Deep Water Drilling
Craig Wright is a third-generation oilfield descendent. He began his career in June of 1972 working summers and Christmas holidays for Zapata Offshore Company, a company founded by George H.W. Bush in 1954. Craig graduated from Texas A&M University in College Station in 1976 and was a member of the Corps of Cadets. He began his 47-year oilfield career, starting offshore as a floorman for Zapata. With Zapata, he worked in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM), Newfoundland and North Sea Norwegian Sector. After ten years, he departed Zapata and joined Mobil Oil Company, working various land and offshore projects for the next 6 years. After Mobil, he worked as a private consultant for Francis Brown & Associates in the GOM, the Florida Everglades, Africa and China. His deep-water experience started with Vastar Resources, which was later bought by BP. Craig’s career with BP spanned 23 years, working on several deep-water drilling, completion, construction, and pipeline projects. His most memorable project was the Macondo relief well and kill operation. The projects took him from Houston to Africa, Singapore, Brasil, Trinidad & Tobago, Newfoundland, and finally offshore Nova Scotia. Craig has crossed the equator at sea three times and worked on fifty different rigs in thirteen different countries. He can say that he has worked on every type of rig from land to offshore, tropical to extremely cold water, and water depths up to 9,200 feet. Craig retired from BP in 2019, but ultimately could not stay retired. His next assignment will be in Africa as a rig site consultant. Craig is married to the former Karen Drozd of El Campo, Texas and together they have three daughters and five grandchildren.