Anecdotes regarding Ethiopia provided by Bill Wally.

In Addis, our minicomputer kept breaking down, but by swapping boards, changing power supplies, etc. we managed to keep it going. However, after several months in country Bob our best electrical engineer who had set up the Vibroseis crew, fixed their radios and many times our computer, wanted to go home to the UK. He had had to cancel a vacation with his fiance (later wife) because of delays in getting the crew going, and anyway was burned out. So he booked a flight on the Tuesday East African Airways flight to London (one of the few direct flights).

But Monday afternoon the computer broke down again. Once more Bob managed to fix it, and reiterated his plan to go home the next day, never mind the dodgy computer which only he could fix. After much begging and pleading (and several bottles of wine at an excellent restaurant), I managed to get a very reluctant Bob to change his plans and rebook on the Saturday Ethiopian Airlines flight.

Tuesday morning, a very grumpy and hungover Bob was in our office (which was on the road to the airport) repairing the client's 16mm movie projector (since the computer was running fine). We saw and heard several fire trucks racing in the direction of the airport, and then our logistics agent came to tell us there was a terrible crash of the East African flight and probably everybody had been killed.

http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19720418-1

"That was your flight, Bob!" I said. Bob didn't reply, and continued repairing the 16mm projector (a fiddly job requiring tweezers, magnifier, etc). A superb example of British stiff upper lip, at least until we quit for lunch, and Bob said "I need a drink..."

I understand later a married Bob started a very successful company manufacturing specialized marine seismic acquisition equipment, and is now retired (like me)...

POSTSCRIPT

A few years later the Soviets abandoned Somalia and moved into Ethiopia. The pro-US government fell, and the western oil companies also left (despite having discovered a major gas field) see:-

http://www.thereporterethiopia.com/index.php/in-depth/indepth-politics/item/443-the-saga-of-oil-exploration-in-ethiopia

"Dozens of foreign oil companies have been engaged in oil exploration activities since the 1940s in the region. To date 48 exploration wells were drilled at different sites by various companies in the basin. Seismic data was conducted on more than 20,000 km long lines. Various useful geological data were collected by Tenneco (1965-1975), and the Soviet Petroleum Exploration Expedition (SPEE) 1979-1992. Sinclair (American), Elwerath (German), White Stone (American) and Voyager (Canadian) have been engaged in oil exploration in the Ogaden from 1944 to 1977. Mobil and Agip also conducted geophysical surveys in the Ogaden in the 1940s. Two American companies, Hunt (1990-2002) and Maxus (1990-1993), were active in the 1990s. After conducting, seismic, gravity, magnetic, and magneto telluric surveys, Hunt drilled one well with a depth of 1,963m in Genale that had no oil and gas show. Hunt terminated its contract in 2002 saying it had budget constraint. Maxus conducted seismic and gravity surveys but did not drill a well. It abandoned its concession in 1993 for security reasons.

In 1972, Tenneco discovered a natural gas reserve in Calub locality. The natural gas reserve in Calub is estimated at 76 billion cu.m. Tenneco also discovered a non-commercial crude oil reserve with a thickness of one meter at Hilala. The well (Hilala 1) which is 4116 meters deep has a production capacity of 35 barrels per day, according to studies.

After Tenneco was expelled by the former socialist government of Ethiopia, SPEE drilled more wells in Calub and Hilala localities and confirmed the natural gas reserve in Calub. SPEE discovered a gas condensate at Hilala 4 well at a depth of 4,750 meters. The gas reserve at Hilala is estimated at 42 billion cu.m. "

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More memories of Ethiopia after accidentally finding this youtube video:-

http://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=related&v=25-sJUzEYzk

We were all staying at the Wabe Shebelli

http://wabeshebellehotel.com.et

which featured a band playing local songs also Western ones, that started up at 9PM and played until 3AM never taking a break.

One Sunday we were relaxing in the bar, when I was paged for a phone call from California (where Ray Geophysical was starting up another Com*mand minicomputer center). But every time they would try to run my Vibroseis correlation program, a bunch of error lights would come on and the computer would freeze.

While standing at the bar shouting into the phone, I became aware of Peter Weil, a Brit with some kind of position with the Ethiopian government also staying at the hotel, standing right next to me (the only other person at the bar which was about 100 feet long)..

In fact, the problem was with the California computer's array transform processor failing whenever a long vector FFT (fast fourier transform) was performed. My program was the only one doing long FFTs.

Peter was of course really with MI-6 and had a stunningly beautiful girl friend named "Ashefash" (sp?) who managed a "night club" named "Little Suzy's"

Several months later Peter was transferred to Afghanistan (this was 1971), leaving Ashefash.

At his farewell bash at the Wabe Shebelle one of our managers wives struck up a conversation with Ashefash and asked her what she did for a living. "I manage a bar" she said. "There are lots of bars in Addis" said the wife (true - there were hundreds in those days), "is it hard to do business?" "Not really".

Later when the wife was informed that "Little Suzy's" was actually a brothel, she was not amused, thinking Ashefash must have thought her a fool (probably true)...

In 1998, I was traveling to Lagos in BA business class sitting next to a young Brit who (it became clear) was also MI-6. I mentioned meeting Peter in Addis many years before, and his eyes lit up. "You met Peter Weil? He's a legend!"

He said Peter in fact returned to Addis, married Ashefash, and was by then retired at least from MI-6.

He then broke off the conversation, as a James Bond movie was starting up...