A hard-working contributor to hydrocarbon exploration, with a curiosity for a wide range of interests.
Born in Bridgend, Wales, on 14 August 1953, Steve and his family moved to the Wirral when he was three. As the class joker, Steve’s initial interest in academic pursuits was limited: he failed the eleven-plus and, upon leaving school at 16, became a lorry driver. However, via the Open University Summer School programme, and a job as a lab assistant, Steve graduated with a BSc in geology from the University of Reading at the age of 26.
Left: Steve Mark Walters. Photo courtesy of Jane Walters.
Oil and gas industry experience
Steve’s first foray into hydrocarbon exploration was as a wellsite geologist, on rigs in the Libyan desert. Here, he spent most of his time dodging camel spiders and bantering with Texan roustabouts. Tiring of the wellhead conditions (and the weather), Steve found a new career path as a seismologist, working for Geophysical Services International in Bedford, and then for Digital Exploration Inc in East Grinstead.
In 1998, having moved to Scotland, Steve switched sectors, completing his drilling technology training at Aberdeen Drilling School. He also became responsible for the sales operations of OCRE Ltd, Norway. By the early 2000s, Steve had, alongside Eric Low, formed Think Well Ltd, a consultancy specialising in high pressure, high temperature well drilling. After the business dissolved, Steve stayed active, becoming a Chartered energy engineer in 2009 and an expert in the health and safety aspects of offshore drilling, working up until 2021 in this area.
Other careers and passions
Although earth science and engineering were Steve’s first loves, he had numerous, wide-ranging interests. In the late 1980s, having moved to North Wales, he managed the family printing firm, manufactured model dinosaurs and, in the period before the Internet was fully established, founded and ran an online cheese and wine store! Indeed, it was wine that allowed him to marry his knowledge of soil and terroir with his love of a good claret, which took much attention and enthusiasm, leading to the award with distinction of the Wine and Spirit Education Trust’s Level 3 certification.
Family and legacy
In 2019, Steve was diagnosed as being pre-diabetic. He changed his lifestyle and diet and conquered the condition, but, in 2021, he was diagnosed with bowel cancer. Rapidly spreading to his liver, he was given only a few weeks to live. Always the rational scientist, Steve took this news stoically and with great fortitude. With his wife, Jane, and daughter, Fern, beside him, and with his favourite music, Vaughan Williams’
The Lark Ascending playing, he died in the Cottage Hospital in Blairgowrie, Scotland, on the 1 February 2022.
A hard-working man with a thirst for knowledge, his ex-colleague, Eric Low, said of him: ‘A geological hammer and a lifetime of curiosity were the only tools that Steve needed. Petroleum geology was a particular curiosity. He had a unique understanding of the geological mechanisms, processes and forces that might create a trap and fill it to spill point or more.’
As a loving family man, blessed with a great sense of humour, a nimble wit and a gift for mimicry, the last word should go to Jane, who said of Steve that: ‘He loved nothing more than good conversation, good food and fine wine’.
By Paul Stevens