As an example, I give you exhibit A: Taken at around 8 am. The brown speckles are oil-based
drilling mud spots. That morning, I was
woken up at 6 am and told it was time to break up the BHA.
Now, some boring definition. What I work with are MWD/LWD
tools. Tools that send me messages in a secret language known only to engineers
in the oil and gas field. The tools tell me all kinds of things. If they’re too hot, if they’re getting jostled
around too much, where they are and what direction they’re headed and most
importantly what they see and think about their environment. These tools are in
the BHA (bottom hole assembly) and are the first thing in the hole and the last
thing out. I need to be present for both
situations.
So, to return to my picture, it was a beautiful morning on a
rig about 5 km from the coast. As they take the tools out of the hole we watch
for damage and make sure everyone knows what they’re doing. We also have to
take steps to protect our tools during the long trip from the drill floor, to
outside our trailer. Usually only about 100 ft away and 40 ft down, but when
you’re working with millions of dollars worth of equipment, you take precautions.
In this case, digging through drilling
mud covered tools and placing protectors on adapters after they unscrew the tool.
You can see the result. The company man thought it was hilarious and insisted
on taking several pictures.
Now as a contrast I give you exhibit B: Taken at around 9 am
on a different rig at a very different time in the drilling process. I was sent to this rig to assist with the end
of the job. I was told it would probably be two, three days tops. I arrived and
helped do a full take down of all our sensors. A messy, long, time consuming
job. It took about 13 or 14 hours. And it was pouring tropical downpour rain
the entire time. I went to bed exhausted
and dirty, unwilling to get wet again even in the shower.
Our job done, the next morning we got up and went to the
beach. It had stopped raining overnight and started clearing up. The beach was
deserted. I ran barefoot for about 20 mins in the wet sand, glad to get some
exercise and fresh air. I returned to my coworker who told me glumly that we
had just received orders to put all our sensors back up and prepare to receive and
run a new set of tools. At least this time it wasn’t raining. This time it took
about 16 hours to rig up, prepare the tools and make up the BHA. We waved
goodbye to the tools and collapsed in bed.
Fortunately for me, I’m still on this wonderful rig by the
beach. In my off time, I can go running and lay out in the sun. Just another
day on the job in Mexico.
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