Thursday, August 2, 2007
Back to back
I suppose up to this point I have more regularly been the second or third man on a job and now I am a little more experienced I have started to do more day shifts and been more responsible for just doing the job before and getting things right. trying to make sure the data I was sending in every morning was to a high enough standard and if it wasn't giving myself a good swift kick in the bollocks if it wasn't(quite a trick and if you haven’t tried it....don't, you'll only do yourself an injury). I think that the more I did it the less I ever thought I would get to the point where I would be supervising another MWD hand. Well now it is happening it appears to be less plus points on day shift than I thought there might. Well I suppose that the day shift is much better for your sleep pattern although getting up at 4:30am doesn’t seem to be agreeing with me as much as I thought it would. I seem to find my sleep occasionally disturbed by, well I don't quite know how to put it, by the other guy. The less experienced version of myself, the guy that is doing the job that I have been doing for the last 18 months. It is a bit weird to think that he is relying on me the way I relied on the day guy. I must admit though that I don't remember being quite as bad as this guy. I mean I did know when the tool was pulsing and when it wasn't and I could track depth pretty well. But that aside, I suppose its back to where I left off with Reeves. Being that first guy is always a bit different and there is a mindset that you need to get into to do it. The mindset is "trust no-one" always check everything that has been handled by anyone else and make sure you cover your arse with the biggest piece of steel that you can find an then galvanise the steel.
June and July Posts
The times they are a changing - The Noughties working man
This is offshore, advertised as the most hostile toughest working environment in the world. The roughtiest toughtiest bunch of glass-eating hardheads in the world. There is macho and then there is offshore! This is surely the best melting pot in the world in which to gauge how culture changes. Listening in on coversations at the dinner table and in the tea shack you can get an amazing picture of what you can and can't talk about if you are a bloke. This week the Roughnecks(the roughest toughtiest bunch out here) are talking about the nutritional value of penut butter. The conversation usually starts with, "I can't believe your eating that shite!" "How(pause), I'ts full of protein." "There's more fat than protien in that, whats the fat content?" "Aye your right, but there is 25 grams of protein in it." "Is that per 100 grams?" "No(pause as the label is read), it says per serving." "Its still shite!" Food nutrition is something that we all took for granted until the food standards agency decided that we could all be better educated about what we eat. But what is recommended is always an average. Everyone is different and everyone requires a different amount of nutrition daily. The information helps and it is remarkable that we all take an active interest in how much of everything we eat a day. I think the roughnecks need a better idea of the nutritional value of Jock Pie, beans and chips. And the catering crews need alot more training in nutrition and eating healthily on a budget.
Downtime and WOW (waiting on weather)
The Fog......... The peep peep peeeeeeeeep, of the fog horn every 4 seconds is heard everywhere on the rig from the Galley to the Helideck, from the rig floor to the warm cosy place that you are curled up in thinking "I'm going off today?" The helicopter flights start to slip every where and instantly all turn to the internet to surf to the scotia or bristows website. "Has there been any flights lifted from town yet?" "Nah, there's no vis in Aberdeen." "are you on the first or the second flight?" "The second, why do you think it will get bumped?" "No chance! Thats the crew change flight and the OIM's going on holiday tomorrow. I think you'll be safe the first flight will get cancelled first!" "peep, peep, peeeeeeep. peep, peep, peeeeep. peep, peep, peeeeep." And as always we will just have to wait on weather.
The Offshore Medic Your own personal doctor....offshore. The perfect partner for any hypochondriac. These guys and gals are fantastic. Nothing surprises them they are always there to help from a sniffle to a fatality. They don't really get enough praise because they are only every needed when it all goes wrong. I have been medicated and stuck back together by these people and they are they best. Offshore workers are the healthiest workers in industry and this along with the medical very 2 years keeps us that way. If you are feeling at all unwell get to the doctor.
This is offshore, advertised as the most hostile toughest working environment in the world. The roughtiest toughtiest bunch of glass-eating hardheads in the world. There is macho and then there is offshore! This is surely the best melting pot in the world in which to gauge how culture changes. Listening in on coversations at the dinner table and in the tea shack you can get an amazing picture of what you can and can't talk about if you are a bloke. This week the Roughnecks(the roughest toughtiest bunch out here) are talking about the nutritional value of penut butter. The conversation usually starts with, "I can't believe your eating that shite!" "How(pause), I'ts full of protein." "There's more fat than protien in that, whats the fat content?" "Aye your right, but there is 25 grams of protein in it." "Is that per 100 grams?" "No(pause as the label is read), it says per serving." "Its still shite!" Food nutrition is something that we all took for granted until the food standards agency decided that we could all be better educated about what we eat. But what is recommended is always an average. Everyone is different and everyone requires a different amount of nutrition daily. The information helps and it is remarkable that we all take an active interest in how much of everything we eat a day. I think the roughnecks need a better idea of the nutritional value of Jock Pie, beans and chips. And the catering crews need alot more training in nutrition and eating healthily on a budget.
Downtime and WOW (waiting on weather)
The Fog......... The peep peep peeeeeeeeep, of the fog horn every 4 seconds is heard everywhere on the rig from the Galley to the Helideck, from the rig floor to the warm cosy place that you are curled up in thinking "I'm going off today?" The helicopter flights start to slip every where and instantly all turn to the internet to surf to the scotia or bristows website. "Has there been any flights lifted from town yet?" "Nah, there's no vis in Aberdeen." "are you on the first or the second flight?" "The second, why do you think it will get bumped?" "No chance! Thats the crew change flight and the OIM's going on holiday tomorrow. I think you'll be safe the first flight will get cancelled first!" "peep, peep, peeeeeeep. peep, peep, peeeeep. peep, peep, peeeeep." And as always we will just have to wait on weather.
The Offshore Medic Your own personal doctor....offshore. The perfect partner for any hypochondriac. These guys and gals are fantastic. Nothing surprises them they are always there to help from a sniffle to a fatality. They don't really get enough praise because they are only every needed when it all goes wrong. I have been medicated and stuck back together by these people and they are they best. Offshore workers are the healthiest workers in industry and this along with the medical very 2 years keeps us that way. If you are feeling at all unwell get to the doctor.
Monday, July 30, 2007
New Up-Starts
To all those new to the oil industry and offshore life.
STOP PISSING OFF THE EXPERIENCED PEOPLE OFFSHORE!
When you start with a new employer it is important to know your place and realise that you must start at the bottom and work your way to the top through respect, hard work, keeping your nose to the grindstone and being as helpful as you are able. You will not win friend in high places by starting your vocation with a "ooo, you don't want to do it like that" attitude. Also very unhelpful is the "well I'm not doing that", the "I think that you should do it this way" and above all "that's not how they taught us to do it in school" mantra. Remember kiddywinkles this is not school it is the real deal! This is the place where, if you pay close attention, you will learn how it has been done for years and then if you are all very good little boys and girls in about 10 years you will all be invited to stick you oar in and make things better for everyone.
That doesn't mean that you shouldn't practice your rowing early, in fact buy an oar, sit on the boat and watch how the big boys do it. By this I mean speak up when you are away ask questions like "why are you doing it like that?" or "why cant we do this instead?" and if you are really adventurous try "what if we did it like this?". For the observant in the group you will have noticed that the last three all ended with "?". This is your most effective form of punctuation as a new start add it to the end of every sentence and you will almost always get a positive response, providing you use a little common sense before it.
Above everything else do not, DO NOT, even if your life depends upon it go back into the office and start any sentences with "When I was offshore I saw........" The end of these sentences are usually something that they really don't want to here in the office and involve vast amounts of fannying about with a dozen different paper systems all of which will do very little and might even negatively effect stock prices. If you are offshore and you do see something ask a question.
You will see things offshore that look like they are a little bit odd. These guys have been doing what they do for a very long time and have all learned the hard way. Their are systems in place to help them learn from their mistakes and to let them express themselves to the town bods. Use these systems too and then you are playing the correct game and are unlikley to piss off the world. Good Luck
Angry Uncle Scott
STOP PISSING OFF THE EXPERIENCED PEOPLE OFFSHORE!
When you start with a new employer it is important to know your place and realise that you must start at the bottom and work your way to the top through respect, hard work, keeping your nose to the grindstone and being as helpful as you are able. You will not win friend in high places by starting your vocation with a "ooo, you don't want to do it like that" attitude. Also very unhelpful is the "well I'm not doing that", the "I think that you should do it this way" and above all "that's not how they taught us to do it in school" mantra. Remember kiddywinkles this is not school it is the real deal! This is the place where, if you pay close attention, you will learn how it has been done for years and then if you are all very good little boys and girls in about 10 years you will all be invited to stick you oar in and make things better for everyone.
That doesn't mean that you shouldn't practice your rowing early, in fact buy an oar, sit on the boat and watch how the big boys do it. By this I mean speak up when you are away ask questions like "why are you doing it like that?" or "why cant we do this instead?" and if you are really adventurous try "what if we did it like this?". For the observant in the group you will have noticed that the last three all ended with "?". This is your most effective form of punctuation as a new start add it to the end of every sentence and you will almost always get a positive response, providing you use a little common sense before it.
Above everything else do not, DO NOT, even if your life depends upon it go back into the office and start any sentences with "When I was offshore I saw........" The end of these sentences are usually something that they really don't want to here in the office and involve vast amounts of fannying about with a dozen different paper systems all of which will do very little and might even negatively effect stock prices. If you are offshore and you do see something ask a question.
You will see things offshore that look like they are a little bit odd. These guys have been doing what they do for a very long time and have all learned the hard way. Their are systems in place to help them learn from their mistakes and to let them express themselves to the town bods. Use these systems too and then you are playing the correct game and are unlikley to piss off the world. Good Luck
Angry Uncle Scott
Monday, July 2, 2007
The Gym
The concept of exercise on a rig is somewhat similar to that of a hamster in a wheel. This is the time you get to exercise but you know you will never be truly free to go anywhere. The room you can use while away is the Gym. This is a fluid concept when offshore. Most will imagine a small spa where you sign in and the steward gives you a towel and invites you to try the Jacuzzi. I'm afraid the reality is a little different. The gym is a room with some exercise machines, some free weights and some TV's. A place to get on the treadmill and watch TV. Get on the exercise bike and listen to your i-pod. They vary from 1 bike and 1 rowing machine(from the 1980's). to the full, up to date, 3 Treadmills, 3 Bikes, Recumbent Cycle, X-trainer and full free weight suite. Water cooler occasionally working in the corner. The Gym is adorned with pictures of stretching exercises or instructions on how to use the machines. Usually the TV's are set to EmptyV or Sky(it's all blow out of proportion and usually speculation)News and are usually at full volume because most people on a rig are a little deaf. Through years of working next to loud plant and equipment. There are a number of unwritten rules in the Gym. It is always a place of silence though. Generally no one will talk to one another, unless the Driller and AD are weight training together. The TV channel shouldn't be changed without consulting anyone else in the room(just a quick "are you watchin this pish" should do). Aways clean your machine after use, there will be bottle of cleaner and towel. Anyone breaking the rules or making up their own better beware, they will become Gym outcasts. There is still a sense of togetherness about the Gym users. A kind of "were all going to be much healthier and we know how to look after ourselves" smugness shared by all who don their shorts and t-shirts and clamber into the wheel. Maybe we can't go anywhere but at least we are going.
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Scribing Up.
Another fabulous day on the rig, another BHA(bottom hole assembly). This means we have changed out all the downhole drilling equipment for another set-up. Why? Well we were trying to kick off from the present well path after leaving part of another BHA in the hole. So we have to be able to steer hole away from the “fish” or other items lost in hole.
There are, as always, more than one way to skin a cat. With this BHA we are using a motor with a bend in it. Which is exactly that, a mud motor, which turns the bit and nothing else as you pump mud through it. Above this spinning bit is a bend of 1.4ยบ that can be oriented when we get down to the bottom to point the bit in the direction you want to go. So all you have to do is be able to tell which way the bit is pointing when it is 10,000ft away.
Imagine you have a 1,000ft long drinking straw and you turned one end half a turn, how much would the other end turn? Not one bit. It would just twist up. No imagine a piece of drill pipe, same problem. There is no way you can mark up a pipe at surface and know where the end is pointing. Enter the MWD engineer. We have a tool in the hole that will tell us which way is up, using magnetometers measuring the magnetic field of the earth and its just behind the motor.
Now we get to the fun part. When everything is screwed together the bend in the motor will never line up with the reference line on the MWD tool. So we have to measure the angle between the “highside” of the MWD tool and the direction the bit is pointing in. This is the Scribeline Offset. It is a very very very important measurement. If it is wrong wells have been drilled in entirely the wrong direction, which might lead to some very probing questions.
The Directional Driller marks the highside of the motor. And then transfers this highside line up the tool to the MWD scribeline. Then he marks that line, with a torch strapped to the MWD tool or a polystyrene cup and the whole thing is lifted into the air and the line on the motor is checked with the cup or torch. Any adjustment is made an the tool lowered down again. The angle from the MWD scribeline to the Motor highside is then measured, from us to them, clockwise looking downhole. The scope for error at this point is huge, as you have just introduced a human element. At this point we are like airline pilots one wrong move could cost lives! Well, not really, but you could cut the tension with a knife. The tool is run into the well. Highside is pointed where we want to go and mud pumped through the string to make the bit, and the bit only, turn. This is Sliding, drilling without rotating, and the bit will slip slide away from the old hole into a whole new place of its own.
There are, as always, more than one way to skin a cat. With this BHA we are using a motor with a bend in it. Which is exactly that, a mud motor, which turns the bit and nothing else as you pump mud through it. Above this spinning bit is a bend of 1.4ยบ that can be oriented when we get down to the bottom to point the bit in the direction you want to go. So all you have to do is be able to tell which way the bit is pointing when it is 10,000ft away.
Imagine you have a 1,000ft long drinking straw and you turned one end half a turn, how much would the other end turn? Not one bit. It would just twist up. No imagine a piece of drill pipe, same problem. There is no way you can mark up a pipe at surface and know where the end is pointing. Enter the MWD engineer. We have a tool in the hole that will tell us which way is up, using magnetometers measuring the magnetic field of the earth and its just behind the motor.
Now we get to the fun part. When everything is screwed together the bend in the motor will never line up with the reference line on the MWD tool. So we have to measure the angle between the “highside” of the MWD tool and the direction the bit is pointing in. This is the Scribeline Offset. It is a very very very important measurement. If it is wrong wells have been drilled in entirely the wrong direction, which might lead to some very probing questions.
The Directional Driller marks the highside of the motor. And then transfers this highside line up the tool to the MWD scribeline. Then he marks that line, with a torch strapped to the MWD tool or a polystyrene cup and the whole thing is lifted into the air and the line on the motor is checked with the cup or torch. Any adjustment is made an the tool lowered down again. The angle from the MWD scribeline to the Motor highside is then measured, from us to them, clockwise looking downhole. The scope for error at this point is huge, as you have just introduced a human element. At this point we are like airline pilots one wrong move could cost lives! Well, not really, but you could cut the tension with a knife. The tool is run into the well. Highside is pointed where we want to go and mud pumped through the string to make the bit, and the bit only, turn. This is Sliding, drilling without rotating, and the bit will slip slide away from the old hole into a whole new place of its own.
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Parallelism, spinning plates
This seems to be a very philosophical title but there is no need to be as deep. The reason we are all here, and when I say here I mean the rig, is Money. Money we all need to pay for and fuel or homes, feed our families and provide us with a few luxuries to make spending the extra time away from home worth the while.
Some folks on the rig are happy with that life. They enjoy or have become content with consistency of their day to day work and the familiarity of their surroundings on the rig. These people are part of the institution that is every individual place offshore and this is their place. The institution makes it easy to dissociate itself with the other part of that persons life that takes place with their family and friends in a different place and time from this. It is almost as if the two existences run in parallel. For even when the crew member isn’t here there is a presence, reminders and markers of that persons place on the rig.
Others on the rig attempt to move away from this place as often as their day to day responsibilities allow them. They are living a life of escapism into worlds of computer games and movies emerging occasionally to sustain their profession or body. When they return to the other half of their lives that happens away from this place do they still try to escape from that place too? To live your life outside of reality is another parallelism. You are here but not, you are elsewhere but not. And then to be at home is a third and fourth parallel on which you live life.
The ability to cope with this parallelism is what make some people better at working away. They are able to sustain a parallel existence. A life which changes irregularly and has a blocky profile as their time switches between each parallel.
I am not a person who can live in too many parallel worlds. I am bad at keeping the plates spinning in my absence. I let them crash to the floor, one by one, until there are one or two wobbling away in the foreground my limit is three. Home(Jenny and Family), work and one other, which is usually the plate that falls off and I put back on quickly while no one watches. This means that home and work wobble and the other plate could be the first one that comes to hand as I stoop down quickly to pick it off the floor. This could be Sailing, Motorbike or Friends.
So the two or three parallels that I live on when offshore are my bandwidth, the speed of my connection with the outside world. A world of parallels on which I live, work and exist. These parallels change when I am not offshore. They drop an octave to a place where my three parallels are different again and the work plate rarely makes it off the ground…..unless I pick it up by mistake.
Some folks on the rig are happy with that life. They enjoy or have become content with consistency of their day to day work and the familiarity of their surroundings on the rig. These people are part of the institution that is every individual place offshore and this is their place. The institution makes it easy to dissociate itself with the other part of that persons life that takes place with their family and friends in a different place and time from this. It is almost as if the two existences run in parallel. For even when the crew member isn’t here there is a presence, reminders and markers of that persons place on the rig.
Others on the rig attempt to move away from this place as often as their day to day responsibilities allow them. They are living a life of escapism into worlds of computer games and movies emerging occasionally to sustain their profession or body. When they return to the other half of their lives that happens away from this place do they still try to escape from that place too? To live your life outside of reality is another parallelism. You are here but not, you are elsewhere but not. And then to be at home is a third and fourth parallel on which you live life.
The ability to cope with this parallelism is what make some people better at working away. They are able to sustain a parallel existence. A life which changes irregularly and has a blocky profile as their time switches between each parallel.
I am not a person who can live in too many parallel worlds. I am bad at keeping the plates spinning in my absence. I let them crash to the floor, one by one, until there are one or two wobbling away in the foreground my limit is three. Home(Jenny and Family), work and one other, which is usually the plate that falls off and I put back on quickly while no one watches. This means that home and work wobble and the other plate could be the first one that comes to hand as I stoop down quickly to pick it off the floor. This could be Sailing, Motorbike or Friends.
So the two or three parallels that I live on when offshore are my bandwidth, the speed of my connection with the outside world. A world of parallels on which I live, work and exist. These parallels change when I am not offshore. They drop an octave to a place where my three parallels are different again and the work plate rarely makes it off the ground…..unless I pick it up by mistake.
Thursday, May 3, 2007
Agenda and Priority
Everyone has there own little agenda. They have been self programmed by life to prioritise. This is great and means that generally all the important stuff gets done and anything that is a little less important is put down to "well if we get the time, we'll get it done." Unfortunately there are stronger and weaker personalities in the world who use different manipulative techniques to "push" their agenda to the top of the priority list. They use persuasion, temptation, flattery, friendship, anger and occasionally bribery to manipulate others, swimming their way to the top of the list towing their agenda behind them.
These manipulators are usually either infuriating, charming, annoying or a combination of any of these. They spend their lives trying to get people to do their bidding and trying their very hardest to get there own way. They are focused and ruthless. They are also a little bit funny. It is amusing to think that pushing your own agenda is so important that you would push people into what ever corner they need to be pushed to get something to happen.
Surely there are different ways to motivate people. Through setting an example, through suggestion and allowing people to prioritise themselves, through discussion and agreement. And "at the end of the day" what is the point in putting yourself through all that effort to get what you want.
I watch these personalities while I'm offshore, I allow myself to indulge in a little chortle and ask the manipulators as many questions as possible to try and find out what it is they are really worry about. I always find that they are not really interested in what they are doing. This must be soul destroying, especially offshore. If you have no interest in your job out here then why are you travelling all this way. You could be doing the same thing anywhere else. Just as long as it is as far away from me as possible.
These manipulators are usually either infuriating, charming, annoying or a combination of any of these. They spend their lives trying to get people to do their bidding and trying their very hardest to get there own way. They are focused and ruthless. They are also a little bit funny. It is amusing to think that pushing your own agenda is so important that you would push people into what ever corner they need to be pushed to get something to happen.
Surely there are different ways to motivate people. Through setting an example, through suggestion and allowing people to prioritise themselves, through discussion and agreement. And "at the end of the day" what is the point in putting yourself through all that effort to get what you want.
I watch these personalities while I'm offshore, I allow myself to indulge in a little chortle and ask the manipulators as many questions as possible to try and find out what it is they are really worry about. I always find that they are not really interested in what they are doing. This must be soul destroying, especially offshore. If you have no interest in your job out here then why are you travelling all this way. You could be doing the same thing anywhere else. Just as long as it is as far away from me as possible.
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