Warren Morris
MORRIS, Warren James, BE MCE (1950 – 2024)
Warren James Morris, born in Sydney on 26 August 1950, was the son of civil engineer and UWA graduate Henry Clifton Morris and his wife Joan Frances Morris nee Leeke. After spending four years of his early childhood living in New Guinea where his father worked as an engineer, the family returned to Australia and settled in Nedlands, WA. Warren attended the local primary and high schools, was a champion state swimmer and a member of the junior state baseball team during his teenage years. Warren was the eldest of 4 children. He studied civil engineering at The University of Western Australia and was then awarded a cadetship with the Fremantle Port Authority. He went on to attain a Master’s degree in civil engineering at the University of New South Wales. Warren met his wife Annette at a party in 1972 and they married in 1973.
In the mid-1970s Warren worked for Mount Newman mining before moving to Woodside Energy in 1978 where he was to spend the rest of his career. When he joined Woodside in 1978, it was a time of major expansion and Brian Haggerty, Rob Male, Stan Stroud, Bob King and Mohamed Korshid also joined at the same time working at Allendale Square. Initially Warren worked on the proposed LNG Plant and also on the Phillip Point Supply Base providing coastal engineering advice for the LNG export jetty and dredged channels. As part of this project, he went to the UNSW Water Research Laboratory in Manly Vale, north of Sydney where he worked closely with Tony Byrne of Riedel & Byrne, coastal engineering consultants.
Warren was a key player in the design and construction of the 40 inch diameter Woodside offshore pipeline from North Rankin (NRA) to Mermaid Sound, Dampier in the early 1980s. Of particular significance was the shore approach of the pipeline in Mermaid Sound. He was closely involved in the development and testing of the 300-tonne subsea plough and was a team leader on the subsequent ploughing of sections of the offshore trunkline. At that time the plough was the largest and heaviest plough to have been built. On completion of the project the pipeline installation contractor bought the plough from Woodside for the sum of A$1.00 and took it back to Germany on board the pipelay vessel when it demobilised. The contractor, ETPM, sold it for scrap in Hamburg.
Warren was appointed the Construction Manager for the second NRA trunk pipeline (42 inch diameter) from about 2000 to 2004 where he performed an equally good job as he had on the first. Warren remained highly involved in Trunkline matters and was Woodside’s Client Representative for a literature survey of hydrodynamic coefficients for submarine pipelines, annual survey screening of spans and latterly ploughing studies for the Second Trunkline project.
When the NRA 2 project was undertaken Warren supervised the platform topsides transportation from Korea to site and their installation on the substructure.
The Piper Alpha disaster in the North Sea in July 1988 in which 165 people were killed forced a significant redesign of the Goodwyn Alpha (GWA) platform and the inter-field 30 inch diameter pipeline from GWA to NRA. The topsides facilities lay out and the riser location were modified and as a result, the routing of the 30 inch subsea pipeline was redesigned. Warren supervised the pipeline redesign which was performed by pipeline engineering consultants J P Kenny Pty. Ltd.
Warren was part of the team that won the Engineers Australia Engineering Excellence Award for the Trunkline Expansion System Project in 2005. The visionary Warren led the application process on behalf of Woodside Energy.
Warren later became the project manager for the subsea tiebacks to GWA from Perseus, Western Flank and the Cossack Pioneer.
Throughout his career, Warren was focused on project delivery, on time and budget. He always watched the dollars very closely. A close colleague of Warren’s made the following observation.
- My memories of Warren are of a very intelligent engineer who would work hard and tirelessly to achieve the very best outcomes for Woodside. If there were hard discussions to be had then he was up to the task and would not shy away from a healthy debate.
Warren had a lifelong passion for sailing. He sailed regularly at Mounts Bay Sailing Club and the Royal Perth Yacht Club. As he grew older, he commenced sailing keelboats which he did regularly until his cancer diagnosis. Warren sailed in the Whitsunday’s and Desolation Sound, north of Vancouver, Canada amongst other locations. He was the winner of the Hyatt Regency Perth Summer Series in his yacht Fistina in 2020.
Warren died aged 73 in Perth on 20th February 2024 after suffering from pancreatic cancer for a number of years. He was much too young and has left a void in the lives of many relatives, friends and colleagues.
