Host Scott Angelle sits down with Lee Iver, founder and president of PDI Solutions, a leading provider of deepwater production operations support, asset integrity, and inspection services in the Gulf of America. Lee founded PDI in 2011, sold the company in 2017, reacquired it in 2019, and expanded its capabilities in 2021 with the acquisition of Tejas Testing and Inspection. He’s also co-founder of Dream Adventures, a nonprofit giving terminally ill children and their families outdoor experiences.
In this conversation, Lee pulls back the curtain on what it actually takes to work offshore today: the technical training and certifications required before anyone steps onto a facility, control rooms that rival rocket-launch command centers, and a safety culture built around stop-work authority — where any worker, at any level, can halt a job with zero repercussions. Scott and Lee also talk through pay and scheduling (14-and-14 rotations), how AI and automation are reshaping offshore careers rather than eliminating them, and why the deepwater workforce remains essential to America’s energy security.
What the deepwater workforce actually does, and why it’s far more technical than the “roughneck” stereotypeThe training and certification pipeline required to work offshore, and how it continues throughout a careerHow stop-work authority and safety culture have evolved industry-wideWhy AI, automation, and predictive maintenance are creating more skilled offshore jobs, not fewerPay, benefits, and the realities of a 14-and-14 offshore scheduleThe Gulf of America’s role in U.S. energy security and productionHow to explore a career with PDI SolutionsGuest: Lee Iver, Founder & President, PDI Solutions Website: pdi-s.com
Host: Scott Angelle, Balancing the Three E’s Podcast usaenergyworkers.com
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