Obituary of Clifford Neal Prescott

Clifford Neal Prescott passed away on Tuesday, August 27, 2024, at the age of 83. He is preceded in death by his parents Foster and Elsie (Skrabanek) Prescott of Houston Texas, brother Arman F. Prescott Sr and Arman’s wife Shiela Prescott of Bellville Texas. He is survived by his sister Patty G. Prescott of Houston Texas and numerous cousins, nephews and worldwide friends.  Neal believed in the Trinity and was a member of Houston’s 2^nd Baptist church for years where he attended Bible studies regularly.

Neal was born in Houston, Texas and graduated from Brazosport High School in 1959. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin. Later in his career, he would complete an MBA from Rice University Jones School of Business and attend Colorado State University Advanced structural engineering and University of Houston Reservoir engineering programs.

Neal started his engineering adventures as a Structural Mechanics Research Laboratory Assistant while a student at the University of Texas at Austin. Upon graduating in 1965, he was a field design engineer for Brown & Root building various marine facilities in DaNang and Saigon, Vietnam, as well as Operations Section Manager in Poro Point, Northern Luzon, Philippines. In 1968, Neal joined Fluor Ocean Services where he would spend the next 18 years pioneering new installation methods for subsea pipelines and structures, as well as executing onsite assignments in Alaska, Ecuador, Puerto Rico, Singapore, Taiwan, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, the North Sea, Canada and the United States. It was during this time, Neal developed what would become lifelong friendships with many of his coworkers who were involved in the same projects.

In 1986, he started Prescott Petroleum Corporation by acquiring two concessions totaling 30,000 sq. km of area, a first by an independent operator in Thailand. Starting in 1988, for the next few years, Neal worked as an Offshore Consultant for Conoco and as VP of Engineering and Operations for Kvaerner RJ Brown. In 2003, Neal returned to work with his lifelong friends at Fluor Offshore Solutions as Executive Director Offshore & Subsea Technology & Fluor Fellow. He would spend the next 13+ years evaluating and strategizing technical advances for the Oil & Gas deepwater industry by innovating, filing patents, presenting and publishing technical papers, and mentoring young engineers and future Fluor managers. Neal had a wealth of Offshore and Subsea knowledge acquired from his personal experiences from all corners of the world. His technical presentations would produce standing room only sessions with late arrivers packed in the hallway just to hear what he had to share.

Though retired from Fluor in 2016, Neal was not finished with Oil and Gas innovation projects. He started two companies: P&I Energy, focused on acquiring, exploring and producing oil and natural gas properties in the Permian Basin, as well as Ensign Oil and Gas, A Global Energy Solutions company for Onshore and Offshore projects. He continued with both efforts until his passing.

Neal had over ten patents in the offshore and deepwater industry and had 80 technical publications and presentations since 2004. He was a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, The Institute of Marine Engineering, Science and Technology and the Society for Underwater Technology. Through different phases of his life, Neal’s hobbies included spelunking, mountain climbing, sailing, motorsports, painting, photography, and scuba diving.

Please join us in celebrating the life of Neal Prescott.