Offshore Again

I'm offshore again, this time for more than just a day trip. I have to stay here until the equipment I designed is commissioned. The longer I am here, the more I get in the way of the normal drilling operations, and that costs money. I am on a drilling rig which is referred to as a "Jack Up Rig." It is designed for shallow water, around 500-700 feet deep. They move this rig into position over a drilling platform and then push three legs down until they contact the seabed, then the rig is jacked up on these legs until is clear of the water. Then they start drilling holes in the earth.

The first photo is an eye-level view of the top drive. It is the drill than turns the drill pipe to make the hole. Last night they drilled down to about 1,300 feet, not counting the 500 foot water depth. That is a very, very long drill bit (but not for a drilling rig). It is a remarkable operation to observe. Rough, dirty, somewhat dangerous, but still quite remarkable. I talked to the mud engineer today during lunch. He is a nice fellow from Russia. Mud is a special combination of compounds that is monitored and adjusted throughout the drilling operation. I asked him about the primary function of the mud, here is a summary:
1. It lubricates the drill bit
2. It float cuttings and other debris out of the hole
3. It helps prevent the walls of the hole from caving in
4. It is sometimes used to run a “mud motor” used for certain types of drilling
5. And it does some other stuff I didn’t understand.

The whole operation of drilling an oilwell has so many specialized pieces of equipment and specialized processes that it amazes me that anyone ever figured out how to get oil out of the ground. I have been designing some of the specialized equipment for many years, but I still only know very little about the whole operation. Every time I go out to a rig I am reminded that I don’t know how much I don’t know.


The second photo is a view looking down from the place in the derrick I had to climb to, to get the first photo. I climbed up one long vertical ladder, about 120 feet. It seems higher when you're up there. Look close, you can see three men on the drill floor. They have orange suits and white hard hats.

Oh, by the way, it is not like living onboard a cruise ship. In fact, the conditions are usually not that great, but the crew always makes the best of it and tries to make the stay here as pleasant as possible. I’m grateful for that. I hope to leave in four days, making my offshore stay a total of 8 days, which is enough for me.