Final Posting

To everyone who was planning on reading the adventures of Bryan.  It no longer exists.  The adventures will certainly continue.  The documenting the adventures will cease.

Bryan
17 June 2012

Saturday-Perth

Spent the morning in the office, then took a train to a town called Freemantle.  It is on the coast, had lunch jumped back on the train and came back to Perth.  Fun being a tourist.  I wish every hitch would start this way. I finally even got caught up on the jet lag.  Went to a movie last night cost me  a whopping $21.50-good grief!  Not fun being a tourist.  Went to an outside mall and was entertained by musicians and magicians.  Kind of fun being a tourist.  It is getting chilly at night-We are going into the fall down here.  The temple idea did not work out.  They only run 3 sessions on Sat. morning-you have to have reservations and you have to have your own clothing. and it would cost me around $70. for the round trip on a taxi.  Lots of excuses-but very valid.  Plan to attend Church tomorrow.  There are 5 stakes and 27 wards in Perth and surrounding area. Cheers. Living in a hotel instead of out on the rig is quite nice!

Sunday-Frontier

On the rig we record all incidents-no matter what the severity level is.  We record all scrapes and bruises, even needing a band aid gets recorded.  We have 160 people on board and we have now gone 48 days with no hurt incidents.  Yesterday, our sister rig, had a worker grab a tag line under a load that was being transferred from a boat to the rig.  When he grabbed the tag line to pull the load, the cable snapped and the load crushed the worker. Having a fatallity is the worse thing-it not only affects the person's family but the whole crew is shell shocked.
We also record all environmental spills.  Last week we had a drip every 3 minutes that amounted to 8 drips equals one drop.  So, every 24 minutes one drop of water was leaking into the ocean.  We reported this.  yesterday on the rig, someone started a pump at the wrong time sequence and we lost 85 gallons of mud into the ocean.  Mud is really a concentration of chemicals to weigh heavier than water.  Water weighs 7.5 pounds per gallon and we mix the mud to weigh at 10.5 gallons to suppress the pressure in the well.  So, when you have a major spill the coast guard investigates. It has been crazy around here.  Fortunately, the mud will just disspate into the ocean and no damage to the environment. But, because of the miscommunication, someone will be let go.  For every one worker, there are 40 more guys wanted to do the same job on shore. Did I mention we live in high standard and harsh environment!!

Wednesday-On Rig

After the flight from SLC to Perth, Australia which is 31 hours.  The journey continues after the handover meetings in Perth.  From Perth I fly to an island called Barrow Island.  This flight is 4 hours from the time you arrive at the airport to the landing on Barrow Island.  I then go through security from the fixed wing airport over to the heliport-the building next door.  The helicopter screening is very strict.  I can only take 10 kilos of weight-which is 22 pounds.  After my peanut M&M's, Snickers and gum, there isn't that much room for my toothpaste, deodorant and nail clippers-remember there is no store out on the rig and when you stay for 28 days-if you don't have it-you just do with out.  I think I have now memorized the safety video for the helicopter ride.  This ride is 55 minutes long. The pilots fly at 2000 feet on top of the ocean.  This will allow the pilots about 2 minutes to land on the ocean if there is a mechanical failure. So, it is about 6 hours of flight time from Perth to get to the Rig.
After doing all my wiegh-ins, I am embarrased about the weight gain during my off hitch.  I had done a good job of dropping weight since Christmas and what do you know-in one month-I almost put it all back on.  Very discouraging.  Could it be the M&Ms, Snickers and gum???

Friday in the Perth office

This week brought to a close the fun of being off hitch.  The off hitch adventures had me in Paris and then down to Portugal for a company meeting.  The Eueropean trip was followed by a week of golfing everyday and then olayed in a golf tournament in Ogden.  The fun continued up at our cabin with friends and family going four wheeling and hiking in the beautiful mountains.  The Memorial day weekend was filled with family and snow! I was able to come down from the mountains and get on a plane for Australia.  After 31 hours in the air-I hit Aussie land!!  Jet lag is a complete bummer! I get on a plane on Monday and when I get off it is Wednesday and I am 14 hours ahead of family in Draper, Utah. I attended meetings with the management team but I really don't contribute that much-I nod alot and take great notes!!!  I was scheduled to go out to the rig on Friday and was handed the mail bag for delivery Thursday afternoon.  An hour later, I was told the rig is full and does not have bed space. I am stuck in Perth for the weekend--YEA!!  Perth is actually 20 miles from the ocean.  I will take a train and go to Freemantle which is a coastal port.  This town was built in the 1800's by slaves.  Today it is raining so I hope when my weekend adventure starts the rain will stop.  I have looked up the Perth LDS Temple and plan to make a trip that way.  I really want to just catch up on jet lag sleep deprivation but if I have some free time-I better see the sights!  Thanks for reading and have an awesome day -g'day mate!

Wednesday in Perth

This week has gone fast for me.  I flew off the rig on Monday evening. This adventure entails a helicopter ride for 50 minutes.  You get off on Barrow Island.  You go through the terminal and then check in to fly a chartered plane that will carry other workers who have flown in to the island from their work assignments.  In addition to oil , there is a lot of mining going on around the shore line.  The fixed wing airplane ride is 2 1/2 hours long.  Then you jump in  a cap that drives on the wrong side of the road and boom you are in a hotel at 9 pm.  Long day.  This hotel is right in the middle of downtown because the Transocean office is downtown.  Perth is pretty and nice size town but because it is on the western side of Australia and it  takes 6 hours to get to Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane, it is not growing fast.  People from Sydney can fly to Bali, New Zealand in 3 hours and they fly that way instead of coming to Perth.  Perth is definately the farthest , southwesterly big city in the world.  I have been involved in meetings with the check signers here in the office and today my relief flys in and we do a handover.  Tomorrow I get to start for home.  It is weird to think that I start on Thursday morning and get home on Thursday afternoon and fly for 31 hours!!!

Saturday in Western Australia

On the rig we have 160 people.  There is 20 different nationalities on the rig.  I am an ex-pat because I come from another country.  The camp boss has to cook to please all these different people.  I still have not tried the pork and beans over toast for breakfast.  I have been eating kangaroo -they serve it twice a week. Alot of lamb chops are served.  The pastry's have been ignored because of weight gain.  But, they are plentiful and look great.  Europeans put gravy on their meat, every meal.  I have learn to eat different kinds of cheeses -who knows what their names are.  I am a true lover of dates.  I snack on them all day long. I drink water with every meal cause the milk is warm and comes in a box and the juices are just heavy duty with calories.  Once in while-Thursdays when the barge comes in-we get soda drinks but they only last a couple of days.  The food is abundant here but weird.  Cereal is funny beacuse of the names instead of rice krispies they have rice bubbles!  I can't complain because the wieght problem continues to exist.  Well G'day.

Friday

So yesterday there was a black out drill.  They shut everything down and then re-start everything.  The drill is designed to test all the back up equipment.  Well, shutting down the A.C. in the middle of the day was not a good thing.  The heat from the air, all the equipment and being in a confined space was immediate.  Then the AC did not come back on after the 15 minute shut down. What did the pioneers ever do without AC.  This huge vessel has so many back up generators and the purpose of the drill is to make sure they come on. This whole rig is manufacturing plant on a boat.  It runs 24/7 and has a crew of 160 people to keep it running 24/7. 

Thursday in the Indian Ocean

The oil and gas industry has a dark cloud hanging over it for envirnmental damage.  Since the Horizon incident in the Gulf of Mexico 2 years ago, alot of new rules have be set in place.  One example, yesterday one of the cranes on the rig (we have 4 of them) had a hydraulic hose break.  Ok mechanical failures occur.  The workers were on top of the situation. When the engine was shut off , the containment of hydraulic fluid went to loss of containment.  It was determined that 8 ounces stayed in the catch tray below the engine but 4 oz of hydraulic fluid sprayed into the air which utltimately went into the ocean.  We had to notify, safety, envirnmental groups , onshore management and fill out reports for the Australian coast guard. All for 4 oz.
The other day we saw a hard hat floating in the water. Again, we had to call coast guard and put our emergencey response team on alert.  If there was a hat-where was the body.   After the monitoring the hat, it was determined it must of  flown off a worker.  More reports-why wasn't the worker wearing a chin strap to hold down the hat. Another envirnmental report for waste going into the ocean.  It is nice to have everyone on alert and being green with mother nature.  The reporting is what is timely and did I mention with every report their is a fine for loss of containment.  See in Utah we don't have to worry about things going into the ocean.  In the Great Salt Lake-everything would just float and stay on top.  Enjoy the mountains-we have none out here.

Wednesday

It is interesting that after working a 12 hour day that you sit down to write about what you did and nothing is exciting.  Who really wants to know about the reports I work on.  Who understands the importance of getting the sub sea department to do their matrix training so certification can go from 79% to 82%.  Why is it important to fill out the IADC codes every 15 minutes instead of once an hour (tracking of downtime). Yesterday, the chopper arrived with crew change. 19 of my leaders who I have been working with the last 3 weeks, were able to go home.  Good for them.  Now I get to start training with this new crew. I call it groundhog training.
Everyday for safety we talk about gloves. Wearing the proper gloves. Yesterday 2 workers cut their fingers by not wearing the proper gloves.  They are hurting from their wounds and I am hurting because days without a hurt went back to Zero.  It is like telling your kids not to do something and you turn around and they are doing what you just told them not to do. 
Today in Australia is Anzac day.  This is like Memorial Day for the United States.  At noon all the service veterans are meeting on the helideck for a recognition picture.  Well, lets get another day going!  One more whine factor-working 25 days straight with no day off and no where to go is getting old!.  Whew now that the pity party is over-I better get back to work.

Tuesday on the Frontier

Our drilling operations is different on this well site.  We have the rights to drill on an oil field called the Janz oil field.  We drill a hole using 36 inch pipe. We then fill it with cement. We then go a quarter of mile and drill another 36 inch hole.  Then fill it with cement. We go back to the first hole and drill through the cement.  This time the pipe is 22 inches wide.  Then fill it up with cement.  Basically, we are drilling two holes to find the oil. An interesting fact is that we don't drill straight down.  We do what they call directional drilling. You have more of chance of finding hydrocarbons (oil) going in to the reserve sideways than you do by going straight down. We continue drilling down until we hit the oil and at that time we will be using 9 inch pipe.  Each pipe is 90 feet long.  The plan is to hit oil at 5200 feet below the seafloor.  We first have to drop pipe into 1850 feet of ocean to get to the sea floor.  With wind on the ocean and waves the vessel is constantly moving, the currents in the ocean push the pipe and the hydrostatic pressure from the seafloor crushes the pipe.  It gets really complicated keeping the pipe from moving in the wrong direction.  We cement each section of the hole to keep the seafloor from crushing the pipe.   Drilling operations 101 has now come to an end.
I saw a whale yesterday.  They swim fast and are huge!

Monday

Last night after being asleep for a whopping 90 minutes.  The fire alarm goes off.  This is panic city until you hear the Captain saying this is only a drill.  You go from high anxiety of a real fire to being hateful that you have to wake up and do a drill.  Trust the system is not valid during sleep time!  We drill to have a 160 people go from what they were doing to the the muster station by their assigned life boat.  The perfect world is 8 minutes to muster.  Last night we did it in 11 minutes.  Now the threat is to do another drill sometime during the day to get closer to 8 minutes.  In all the accidents on an oil rig of having a fire then blowing up is 16 minutes. So, they like for us to be at our life boats in 8 minutes 3 minutes to load and drop off the side and then 5 minutes to get away from the rig before it explodes.  Did I mention that gas is a bad thing on the rig.
When you are drilling for hydrocarbons (oil) you first hit gas pockets. If this gas enters the drill pipe and starts its journey to the surface it expands rapidly.  If we are drilling at 5000 feet and the gas bubble is the size of a tennis ball-by the time it rises to the surface, it has grown from the oxygen difference.  Typically, the gas bubble is now a cloud of gas and sparks from the equipment moving will set off the fire with a huge explosion.  When gas does enter the pipe, the drillers pour chemicals into the pipe to dilute or counter the gas. Just like we take anti acid pills for heartburn. These chemicals are dumped in seconds of the sensors going off. The next line of defense is shutting the section where the gas is. This allows the gas to escape into the ocean away from our rig.  Alot happens really fast.  When gas is in the zone we are drilling, all the hot work -welders, tools and moving parts stop working until the gas problem goes away.  In the meantime, we are mustering at our life boats preparing for evacuation.  And you thought road rage was bad!

Sunday on a Rig

Today is Sunday.  On the oil rig there is no such thing as a Sunday or even holidays aren't celebreated.  We are being paid to produce every minute of every hour.  If the drillers aren't drilling-the revenue stops.  If the rig breaks down it works out to be about $27,000 per 30 minutes.  To avoid breakdowns we do preventative maintenance to avoid downtime.  It is like your refirigerator door will not open after 500 openings.  So, make a plan to replace the hinges at 490 openings.  Now take that simple logic and times it by the one million parts that are moving on the rig-it is complex.
Meal time is always interesting. It is 5:15 am and I go to get my lovely bowl of oatmeal.  The guy next to me is on his lunch break so he is having a sandwich and some soup. The guy sitting across from me is having his dinner break so he is eating lasagna or lamb chops.  Weird smells for breakfast time.  Can you imagine being the cook-we have 4 chefs and 8 assistant chefs to feed 160 people 24 hours a day.  Remember, no downtime - especially for meals.
Last night another earthquake in Indonesia which is like Salt Lake City to Montana in distance.  We were on standby for a tsunami.  No tsunami occurred.
Last night a roustabout was using a grinding saw when the blade sheared off and a piece of the blade cut open his knee.  He will need surgery but there are no helicopters until Monday.  Poor guy has to sit in the medic office until Monday's chopper.  Safety is no accident.  How do you plan for equipment failure??
Good thing my job is charts, reports and coaching for better leadership behavior-less things can go wrong that would result in blood.

Indian Ocean-Saturday

Today was special.  At 10:59 am the rig stopped work for 1 minute of silence.  A flag was raised and then the 11 members of the Horizon who lost their lives 2 years ago were read over the intercom.  We do not know these 11 souls but the point is the memory of lost lives.  Safety is the key out here, but, mechanical failures and human errors always will be part of the repetition of the work.  It is a dangerous enviornment out here on an oil rig.  In the past 2 weeks we have had 10 incidents.  Cut fingers, doors slamming shut and hitting legs, parts falling off the derick, tripping hazards on the slick pipe deck.  Our goal is no hurt every day.  We can only tackle one day at at time.  We are 2 days now without an incident.  We just want to go home the same way we arrived.

April, 21, 2012