Tuesday

Tuesday I woke up early because a storm was coming through and a huge clap of thunder went off right over the staff house. It also rained so hard it created a 6 inch puddle that took up the entire parking lot. I got up and showered, ate breakfast (mmm leftover pasta from the night before, no ants) and took the car to the base. I breathalyzed into the base (Again, sober) and went into the office.

Once again, I ended up in the back room. I locked down my computer and went and said hi to some of my friends who came back from days off. Then I sat around for a while. I read a little, I paid bills, I talked to coworkers. When I’m at the base with no current job there’s not much for me to do. That’s not completely true, I do have some re-certifications to work on online and some new training to do, but I’ve been waiting for a nice quiet rig to work on them.

Finally, at around 2 we had stuff mostly ready to discuss my next job. They were still missing a lot of information from the client, which happens a lot, but we knew the basics.  We talked mostly about what frequency to program the tool with so that it could send me information up the hole and I would actually receive it.  Low frequencies travel further, but can get lost in the ‘noise’ the mud pumps create.  We finally came to a decision and got other critical information figured out. 

The next step is always to get PPE (personal protection equipment) from the base store. I also ordered new coveralls (yay!) and rain boots (which are two sizes too big, but better than wet feet).  We always get plenty of gloves, ear plugs, safety glasses, duct tape, electrical tape, and WD-40.  The necessities.

We packed up everything from the office and got in one of the vans we use for transport and stopped to pick up everyone’s stuff. That usually takes an hour or more. Then we shop for groceries.  Lately, all of my rigs have been ones where we cook for ourselves. I’ve gotten better at figuring out what meals are that people like to eat and what it’s possible to make on the rig. But it’s always nice when there’s someone around who actually enjoys cooking and does it well. One of our three person crew assures us he can cook rig-gourmet and so we leave the major shopping decisions up to him.

It’s late at this point, about 6 and we need to hurry up and leave the city before it gets too late and we have to turn back and leave in the morning. My company very tightly controls driving activities because, of all the hazards I work around every day, the riskiest part of my job is getting there and back. This is true of everyone by the way, not a Mexico thing.

We arrive to the rig site about an hour and a half later, just as our living camper and work trailer arrive.  We have to pay at the front gate to access the pad, someone has decided to hostage the pad, but it really doesn’t affect us much.

First thing you always do when you arrive to the site is introduce yourself to the client. We find him making dinner in his camper, but he tells us his boss left the pad to get food and will be back soon. Next we talk to the Pemex technico (who is in charge of operations) and then the Nabors rig manager (who is in charge of the rig).  It’s a strange hierarchy to navigate sometimes, who is in charge of what operations and who to ask permission for what. In this case, everyone gets involved as we try to find room on the cramped pad for both our living space and our working space.

While discussions are going on, we finally get to talk to our client.  He tells us he wants to have everything ready by 9am the next morning.  This means all of our sensors, our tools, everything.  The problem with this is, it’s a very short timeline and to get everything ready will take most of the night. Also, because the rig is active, we can’t put in any sensors until they don’t need that part of the rig.

To try and be as efficient as possible, Paula and I start the process of laying cables while David deals with the camper and trailer people, supervising them as they install the generator and all parts of both campers. 

First, we go and get permission from the rig manager to lay cables.  This involves filling out a job safety analysis for both Nabors (the rig contractor) and Pemex (the operator).  Also, they need to be done in Spanish.  Paula is Brazilian and between the two of us we manage to figure out both forms. Then I go up to the rig floor and talk to the driller. I show him where we’re planning on working and ask him not to clean the floor over us (which would drip mud and diesel and water on us.) We come back to find one of our sensor cables missing, probably stolen. It’s not the first time this sort of thing has happened and it won’t be the last.

At this point, it’s about midnight and Tuesday is officially over. But Wednesday promises to be a long day.