and a bit more

Incidentally, I just dropped by the DSV (Pasha) to have a chat and a cuppa but he was looking rather stressed and I found out that they are having problems with the casing, which is stuck quite deep down. That could quite easily have been our XPT tool *blanch*blanch*...

24 hours later

Well it's been another 24-hour job...although I did manage to catch 3 hours' sleep this morning between 4ish and 7ish.

SLB took a while to prepare everything after my last post, so I sat in their truck and made sure they had everything they needed in terms of data, and got to know them a little bit. We had 2 engineers here, one of them the main XPT specialist in the region as the other one didn't have any experience doing it.

The PEX went well, with the tool (see diagram below) jamming a little bit at the bottom of the hole but not much. We finished that just in time for dinner, after which Sergey and I chose the XPT measurement points and they started on that. This time everything went pretty smoothly with the process so I am rather chuffed about that as I wrote the procedure! Here is a pic of the XPT tool I found on the SLB website...pretty snazzy really :-)

We did have some problems though because the tension on the cable was extremely high, which means it got very close to snapping at some points and that would have been a nightmare. Gilles is only arriving tonight on his shift so I had to phone Alexey knowing full well that he didn't have a clue what to do, whether to stop or keep going. So I checked with the SLB engineers that they were OK to continue and we proceeded cautiously.

We finished at about 1.30am and after sending out some paperwork, Sergey, who was completely knackered, had a 2 1/2 hour sleep while I waited up for the engineers. Just before 4, I decided to go to bed for a bit, with Sergey sleeping int he work unit. 10 minutes later, SLB came along with the data to be checked. Sergey had to send them back 4 times due to mistakes as they were really tired; after that he told them to get some rest and it was agreed that paperwork etc would be sorted out later. Sergey started working with the data a little bit. After an hour of panic, he woke me up around 7.25 to come and help.

Basically the SLB engineers had made a mistake with their calibration and forgotten to apply a parameter to a curve, which means it was out by about 5m. The big worry was that this might have meant that all the XPT points had been taken in the wrong place...and $35,000 down the drain. Of course, we should have noticed the problem when accepting the data, but Sergey was just too tired and hadn't thought of comparing old and new curves (not a mistake we expect to happen, but isn't that the case with all major problems?).

We managed to contact the engineers via via, and they came back to see us and try to sort things out. They looked rather worried when they got back so I assume their manager had had a word! We managed to sort that, and a few other problems, out this morning and they have now left.

Yet again, I am completely knackered and not 100% satisfied, because something went a bit wrong-although not with the XPT this time at least :-)

Sergey has gone to bed already and I don't expect to see him before morning...he has the most fascinating effect on me when we are both tired and doing a night job. You can watch him physically fall apart as the night goes on, and I am convinced he has fallen asleep while standing before. He definitely has while reading out numbers to me!
Well funnily enough, the more tired he gets, the more bright and cheerful I get, which is rather surprising for me as I don't usually react well to sleep deprivation and would be more likely to try to lock him away in the sleeping caravan for lack of patience! It's almost like something is challenging me to resist, to keep going even though he is dropping like a fly.
I do hope Gilles is not reading this though as I suspect I might be doing quite a lot more night shifts in the future!!

Well anyway I have decided to stay up a little longer, and watch a film as my brain doesn't feel up to my book-although I am dying to find out the answer. I am currently reading Jeffrey Archer's False Impression ; it is the first time I read a book of his and I am really enjoying it.
Anyway, I'll just watch a mind-numbing (or is that a numb-minded) film and then go to bed. Hopefully that will kill my jetlag (yes, I am actually feeling that) as obvioulsy my recent patterns have done nothing to help...7.30 really did feel like 2.30 am this morning...

Logging still

Well, complete change of plans again. Schlumberger started logging after lunch yesterday but got stuck in the hole, so after pulling their tools out the russian company came and did the CBL logging after which the drillers did what is called a wiper trip, which effectively is a way of cleaning the hole so the logging tools can pass through.

This took all night so I had a good sleep from 11pm till 6am, got up and did the geo-report, had breakfast then went back to bed as I was still feeling completely dead. I got up at midday and had a shower and have just got in from lunch to find we are starting logging in 1 hour, with a new SLB engineer, as Irina is too tired.

So tonight will be the all-nighter, but I must admit I feel a lot better prepared for it now.

BTW if the link to google doesn't work, please go to google maps and type in "salym, russia" and drag the map so that salym is in the bottom right hand corner.

Helicopter crash

I have just read this article about the helicopter crash last night in Morecambe Bay.
Bizarrely, I dreamt of being in a helicopter crash in the North Sea last night-I had been thinking of what it would be like commuting to an offshore rig yesterday evening and my brain was obviously chewing over it. In my dream I remember surviving the crash thanks to the survival techniques we get trained for, but couldn't work out if everyone had survived.
Very sad news, and it feels all the more real now that I am working on a rig.

Where am I?

A lot of people have been wondering where the places I describe actually are. So with the use of Google maps, here is something to give you a bit of an idea:

Firstly, this links to a map where you can see Salym village (green arrow, bottom right); the image below shows a close-up of the top left hand corner of the Salym map, which is where the different pads are. You will probably need to use the rivers as a guide to finding how the 2 match up.

I have been using Google Earth online; when I get a chance I will make a much better map with the proper GE on my computer.

Logging soon

Well I went to bed at midnight last night after deciding that it wasn't worth waiting up for TD, as no-one had been supervising the reservoir section anyway. I got up at 5.30 this morning to prepare the geo-report as well as the rest of the paperwork and data for the PEX and XPT runs. Things have taken a bit longer with the drillers so we are going to start logging with Slb in about 1 hour.

Sergey Ryzhkov is here to help me-we have a rule that there should always be 2 geologists for the XPT logging. This is going to be my third one (first one where I am in charge), and after the general panic and problems with the last two, I am hoping this one will go smoothly, especially as I am the one who revised the procedure etc...I would prefer to be fresh and chirpy, which is not the case (already!) but then there's nothing like being thrown straight back in there to keep the mind focussed.

The Slb engineer is going to be Irina-not feeling very happy about that; in fact it rather took the wind out of my sails when Pasha-the-DSV told me that. He is also not looking forward to the occasion, although he will only be popping iin occasionally. She did a PEX last night with Sergey and he told me that she is overtired. With her natural sweet disposition, this will be interesting, especially as this is her first XPT...

Sergey arrived an hour ago and we had lunch. He is already looking completely knackered and it's only day 0.75...he has gone to get some sleep and I said I would keep guard, as I have had the luxury of 5 hours' sleep! Oh dear.

The weather here is cold (-25) and sunny :-) so I am happy. Still fighting the urge to go out for a walk in the sun, which is my body's natural reaction to what it thinks is nice warm or at least bracing weather. The sun is really low now, sunrise lasted about 3 hours, and now at midday it looks like about 5 pm on a normal winter's day (whatever that is). I am looking forward to a long and beautiful sunset...

I cannot resist the bed in the work unit any longer so am going to have a quick snooze as lunch is having its effect!

Arrived safely

I am now sitting on pad 5 after a fairly straightforward journey.
Set off yesterday morning at 6am and it took under half an hour to get to Heathrow! There weren't exactly many people on the road. After sitting back in the BA lounge for a bit, got on the BA flight which went smoothly; only 11 people in business class (can take up to 35 people).

The transfer from airport to airport in Moscow was fine too, with only a bit of time spent stuck in traffic. All the cars were covered in a dull black layer, which is what is put down on the roads there when it snows. Moscow temperature: -5 deg with snow.

Found Sasha in the business lounge and flew to Surgut, also uneventful. Found out that a bus had been organised the next day to take everybody to basecamp, as there weren't enough tickets left on the trains. We left at 8.30 this morning, which was quite a reasonable time.

Slept most of the 5 hours to basecamp, then spent a few hours there, were Stijn handed over and we discussed what is next. Then drove on to pad 54 to pick up a technician (new one called Ivan) then onto pad 5 where we had dinner, after which the boys left.

Here, they have had quite a few problems drilling today so everything has been delayed. Drilling was supposed to be finished today but they are still at it now, so it looks like a rather short night for me! Tomorrow there is a PEX and an XPT planned with Schlumberger, so that will take about 16 hours...due to jetlag, I am not yet tired and I assume my body will just adapt to sleeping when it can (again).

I briefly met CJ at basecamp, Gilles' back-to-back (B2B), but he has left this evening and Gilles doesn't arrive till Saturday, so we shall see how that goes-Alexey is in charge (-ish)!

When we stepped out of the airport in Surgut last night around 1am, it was -7 and snowing. As I came out I looked up to see an enormous Christmas tree...I will have had a white Christmas after all :-)

I'd better get on with looking at the well so far and preparing for tomorrow-it's now -20 here by the way so pretty chilly!

London

I arrived safely in London and am now enjoying my time here, catching up with people, making the most of the run-up to Christmas, sorting out the flat and doing loads of cultural fings too :-)

And I have blogging-withdrawal symptoms...but am trying to keep well away from computers for a bit.

Back on here in 2 weeks...

Domodedovo airport

I am now sitting in the BA lounge @ Domodedovo. It is quite modern,, with a small food and drink area, large windows, a nice computer area and a shower. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a corner with relaxing chairs where I might sit back and have a snooze...

Yesterday, Radik, Sasha and I left pad 5 after lunch and drove down to base camp, which takes about 2 hours. Yet again, the weather was amazing and it was lovely driving along the main road to base, soaking up the sun and the views of the forest.

When we arrived we went to the main SSFT unit, where the Team Leader and Lead Geo sit-it was lovely to see Sergey again, if a little surreal, as the environment we had last seen each other in was pretty much the exact opposite!

After a little while, Stijn, my B2B, showed up and I had a little chat with him to bring him up to speed. He will be working with Sergey Ryzhkov on pad 5 at the beginning so he's in good hands.

After a bit more chatting, Sasha and I headed for the bus. Radik had had to leave with Vlada-the-TA because someone had forgotten to buy him a train ticket... We met him at Salym train station and waited together in the waiting-room, which was another interesting experience. There was only one other woman there, wearing stilletos and a long fur coat. Everyone else was male, with a fur hat, a dark jacket, a rugged face and was very quiet. The train was delayed so we had to wait (in silence) a further 30 minutes. The ticket booth was a small slot in the wall-very soviet. Mind you, I expect the ticket lady had her own personal heater and was happy about the lack of gaps in her booth-it was bitterly cold outside; still about -30 but windy.

The train was announced and everyone traipsed outside. Now I had been warned this part was going to be dicey, but again it is rather hard to imagine beforehand. First we waited to see which way the train was arriving, and on which tracks. Some people were standing in between 2 tracks, ready to hop over depending on where the train came in.

The point is that the trains stops for about 1 1/2 minutes in Salym, although it has been known to stay only 40 seconds, with people still jumping on as it moved off...

When we saw the train we had to start running as we were too far down the platform; you are supposed to get on in your carriage and they check tickets as you climb in. The platform wasn't lit past the waiting-room so we had to gallop along (luckily one of the boys was carrying my suitcase) in the dark, trying to work out which carriage we were looking at.
Somehow or other we got on the train in time, although in the wrong carriage, but Sasha explained and we only got a mild telling-off by the train lady (a friendly character).

Gasping for breath (yes, a month of chocolate and cake abuse has not helped) we dumped our bags in our compartment and made our way to the restaurant, where we stayed for the 4 hours.
I quite like Russian trains, because they give a feeling of occasion. You are given a pillow, a mattress and sheets when you arrive in the compartment and they bring round food for dinner (which we gave the 2 men who were sharing our compartment). The restaurant is a proper "old-school" one, with benches, tables, nice tablecloths and a proper waitress. The trains are very high off the ground, too, which makes them difficult to get into (did I mention we had to climb into them from the tracks, not the platform?) but fun to ride in.

We left Radik in Surgut, where he lives, and took the minibus to the hotel, where we went for a drink-a bizarre experience of drinking Newcastle Brown in a random Siberian hotel full of oil men. After which I went to bed, as the minibus to the airport was going to be leaving at 6 am.

Getting up this morning was rather painful due to the cumulative sleep deprivation but things went smoothly. The business class experience in Russia is excellent-they really make things easy for you, and in Surgut airport especially. I only worked this out once I had reached the businees lounge after a bit of a confused tour of the airport but in fact you can just walk into the airport and go straight to the business lounge, where they will take your passport and ticket stub and sort out your check-in and your bags for you! After which, you are taken in a special minibus to the plane, accompanied by a very polite stewardess.

The flight was uneventful; I did get rather excited as we flew out of Surgut as I could see an amazing example of a meandering river system unfold below me, but even that could not keep me awake for too long and I slept most of the way, except during breakfast (which was offered to me in Russian and for which I must proudly say, I made informed choices all in Rusian :-)

Once at Domodedovo airport, I phoned Alexey to see if he could meet up in Moscow but I couldn't reach him. I decided against going into town on my own, without preparation or a map, as I felt too tired to enjoy the experience. So I sat down in a corner and read.
I was provided with pre-flight entertainement for a while when the builders on the floor appeared to have drilled through some water pipes. Water started pouring down from the ceiling, just far enough away for me to see but not get wet. It was rather amusing to watch various men wearing an arrray of security passes turn up, stare, start talking animatedely down the phone, disappear for a while then come back to comment on how someone else was dealing with the situation. The bag-wrapping man nearby seemed to be especially skilled in the arm-waving department and even tried to start ordering the cleaners about. Finally a female supervisor arrived and the situation was under control within 5 minutes.

I am looking forward to a good sleep on the plane as I am feeling rather wooly-headed right now and have to keep fighting the urge to curl up in a corner to sleep. Could I be jet-lagged already? And why is it that I always feel it more going West than going East, unlike everyone else?

Click!

Last week, my language neurones finally clicked into place.
I started speaking a lot more Russian, and a couple of people independently complimented me on my pronunciation/accent :-)

I put this down to 2 factors:

- I have finally managed to do what I was planning to do for the last 6 months, which was to go through my Russian lessons from the start-ie good old revision. I have been through most of the book that Galina, our teacher, made. It is all quite basic but it relly helped me to start making sentences
-A mud engineer called Ivan knocked on my door one evening for some geo-information; he mentioned that him and Matt (Brettle) used to practise conversation, so I suggested we do the same. Which is what we have been doing, and it also helps because he has been speaking slowly to me

Petroservices found out that we were doing this practice and decided to teach me more Russian too. Unfortunately they always speak too fast, and when I ask them to repeat they repeat the easy word slowly and the bit I didn't get really fast! But it's been fun.

I need to write more now too. Like this message for Galina:

галя, спаснбо за письмо. мне очень приятно. приятно посмотреть зто кино!

Leaving today

I'm off today after lunch...
The last few days have been busy. After the Russian company did the CBL, the drillers cleaned the hole out, which was supposed to finish at 4am. Schlumberger were supposed to arrive in the evening, so that everyone could get some rest before logging at 4 am. I slept in the work unit so they could let me know when they arrived...what an awful night. I woke up every hour, everytime getting a little more worried about what might have happened-had the lorry fallen off the road? I got up at 5 as I couldn't sleep anymore, and after sorting out the daily geological report, traipsed bleary-eyed along to the DSV. The second he saw me, he said "you must be wondering what happened to Schlumberger" (to be read with a strong Texan accent).
Turns out their lorry broke down twice, and they had to wait for a replacement to come out from basecamp, which takes hours. The drivers were really tired and went to sleep. So they all only turned up at 11:30, which luckily for them was just in time as the drillers here had been a bit delayed.
After all that, the logging job actually went fine, although they lost communication with the logging tool for 15 minutes and had to shut down all the power in the logging unit.
The engineer was a different one again, Fabio from Brazil, and he was also very friendly and helpful. Everytime I do a logging job with these guys I feel I have learnt a lot.
It took a while to get the results through because of SLB logistics issues so I only got to bed at 1 am...yesterday I got up really early again to interpret the log data. I caught a couple of hours' sleep in the afternoon and again went to bed at 1am. This morning up at 6am...with the surprise of another Russian log in the next well, which I hadn't planned for. However, I am all packed and ready to go, and all the work is finished.
Exhausted but happy!

People

I realise I have been bandying names around and it must all be getting a little confusing. Normally, there are 4 geologists doing their 28 days, then 4 more as their back-to-backs (B2B). Recently though there have been quite a few changes, with one Lead Geologist moving to a different office and a wellsite geologist leaving. So the one leaving had to be replaced, and Alexey Zolotarev replaced the Lead Geologist. Furthermore, Sergey had child, but it was premature and he had to go home to look after his wife and the baby so that messed up the shifts.

So here goes:

Geologists:
Sasha-B2B-Vasily
Sergey-B2B-Slava
Radik-B2B-Maxim
Florence-B2B-Stijn

Technicians:
Andrey-B2B-Vavan/Valodyia/a million other short names-why are there so many for Vladimir?
Sasha-B2B-vacant

Lead Geos:
Alexey-B2B-Sergey (both my friends from G180)

Team Leaders:
Gilles-B2B-CJ

-28 Deg C

Another record temperature this morning!

After waiting around for the reservoir for almost 3 days -delayed due to varying problems- we finally reached it at 1:30am yesterday morning. We had to stop again at 3:50am due to what is called a wash-out. Basically this is when a stand of drill pipes has a hole in it and the mud being pumped down escapes through the hole. This causes the pressure to drop under the hole and is problem that needs to be fixed immediately.

The new DSV, Slava, who arrived on Wednesday, has been very helpful and friendly. His daughter lives in Wales and he is very fluent in English-albeit with a really strong Deep South accent!! I had been warned of this but the Russian/Texan blend is rather difficult to imagine beforehand...he left Russia in 1992 and worked in the US for 9 years and the cap permanently screwed to his head really gives the game away ;-). Listening to him talk is just hilarious and a lot of the Russkis seem to find it very amusing too. Anyway, he knows I like to see how everything works and gave me a couple of photos of a broken pipe which caused a wash-out, which you can see here.

This well is a bit of an epic. Although in areas like the Caspian, wells can take a year and a half to drill, because of problems like high amounts of H2S and high pressures, wells here take an average of 10 days, with a record last week of 7.2 days. However, we are now on day 13 and still going.
The reservoir section followed the overall pattern of going wrong; when we finally reached the part where I needed samples, the mudloggers' computer stopped working properly. The problem was that the computer stopped showing the lag time, which is the time between when the drill bit reaches a depth, and when cuttings from that depth actually reach surface. Vavan had to keep trying to work it out himself, when he wasn't running to and fro the shale shakers.

So with a useless computer, an unhappy technician and no sleep at 4 am, I can't say I was too thrilled to hear about the wash-out, which made us loose 3 important samples. After describing all the samples so far, I went to sleep for an hour or so while Vavan kept an eye on operations. When I got up to do the morning report, he went to bed. I walked over to wake him up 3 hours later, came back and waited. Nothing. Phoned him on the mobile CB/phone. Waited again. Now anyone who knows me might realise that my natural impatience tends to be exacerbated when tired...so I marched over to the caravan and after 5 mins of loud banging on his door managed to wake him up again. He made it in the nick of time.

When we reached a certain formation, I had to make sure that the total depth of the well was still going to be the same-this can change because of the angle of the well. This is one of the more important responsibilites we have, simply because of the costs and mess involved if we get it wrong (too much=overspend on drilling; not enough=miss the bottom of the oil!) I had to do this for the first time at 3:30am, and luckily it was fine.

The rest of the day I spent inputing all the information gathered into Winlog and sending it on to various people. I went to bed at 9 happy in the knowledge that the CBL logging run planned for 3am was now going to be at 9am :-)

I have now just finished that; it involves logging the cemented section of the well, and is done by a Russian company as it is quite a basic op and they are a lot cheaper than SLB. Here is a picture of the lorry/unit-you can't see the wireline yet (cable they hook the tools onto) as it is lying on the decking but when taut it goes in a line from the back of their unit to about halfway up the rig. This is the same set-up as with SLB.

At midnight I will be doing a standard PEX run with SLB...good thing I got some sleep last night!

Russian music and films

I have been listening to a bit of Russian music courtesy of my Russian friends here, especially Vavan-the-technician, who actually studied music. He plays the piano and the accordion, so we have a lot to talk about...he has given me some of the music he plays and I showed him my accordion online.

The other day we watched a James-Bond type film, Russian style, called Chasing the Piranha. I actually enjoyed it a lot and understood quite a bit, with translation for the more complex bits provided by Vavan. I would say I understood about 50% on my own, which probably doesn't say much for the script ;-)

The music in it is pretty good, there is a traditional Siberian music track which is used in the film and which has been remixed as the main soundtrack (track 1). The Siberian music is really strange and gets some getting used to, but I am now fully hooked.

Temperature update

here's a little update to my original graph-as you can see it's almost winter here...

I would love a Thermocron BTW Sarah, if there is still one going...nicer than my little Excel-job here.

On that topic-come all the way to Siberia and still can't escape the dreaded spreadies!

Snow :-)

After a whole week of beautiful clear skies it is now snowing again. Over the last few days I had noticed that the snow had actually worn off the ground, rather than turned into slippery ice., just as if it were dust. Interesting effect. Here is a photo of what my work unit looks like on a day like today-mine is the white one with the stripes/SPD logo; the white&blue one is Petroservices, and anything red is Halliburton/Sperry Sun

On Wednesday afternoon, about an hour after responding to UR's post about safety glasses, I went to learn to catch samples at the shale-shaker. For this, you need your full safety kit-luckily I managed to fit the glasses over mine, although going into the building was a bit of a problem due to double-steaming-up. Unfortunately I do not have any photos of me catching the samples as the camera's battery decided to give in just then.

As I was all kitted out safely I decided to go take a look at the drill floor while they were actually drilling, which was rather fun. They just clipped on another piece of drill pipe when I was there, and then started drilling-really interesting to see the pipe going down into the hole! The motor is very high up towards the top of the rig as this is top-down drilling, and slides down as it drills.

I recognised the driller from the canteen and he seemed pretty pleased that I wanted to see how it all worked. Later at dinner-time, I also noticed friendl(ier) body language from the drilling table!

Tractors

Last night I went over to pad 26 with Radik, as they were going to log an 80 degree well (this is really high angle-normally 45-50 degrees) and for that they were going to use a tool called a tractor. Now these things usually have wheels but this one had little legs, which effectively crawl along the hole! Here is a close-up of the "legs".

There were loads of people at the site and it turned into a bit of a driller-paparazzi moment where everyone there was competing for the best pic to send back to the poor people at base who weren't lucky enough to witness this momentous event.




We brought Sasha some cakes and biscuits from Deutag canteen-he got very excited, I don't think the SSK kitchens are treating him so well...

It was a reunion of sorts as we have all been stuck on our rigs this week on our own with Vavan the technician bouncing around in the only car that works (more or less). So we took some pics before the cameras froze up and refused to work:
















and a final one of me being freezing after spending 1/2 hour @ -24 Deg C looking at what, effectively, is a metal rod with a few quirky bits stuck on:

Boots again

So there you have it. They are really heavy and I have had to practise walking in them but I still like them-the perfect solution to my permanently cold feet. Although the ladies on camp seem to think I am wearing men's shoes (all in Russian of course but that's what I think I gathered!)

The point being??

Here is a picture I took through the window; they were washing out the casing just outside my caravan:

Moonboots

I have acquired a pair of moonboots :-)




They are very large and very warm and I look like a driller-except for the fact that I don't wear overalls, and the boots are shiny clean.




Anyway, they will protect my feet better than the "cute" little brown boots which are not much use below -25. Now it's just like sticking your feet into two pillows :-)




So I decided to nip outside to take some photos of me wearing them while it was still light. I am rather cold now as I ended up walking around talking loads of pics...except of myself. So next time for the boots. But here are some more of the wellsite and surroundings. The trees show what surrounds us...everywhere.











Glad this came out...the kind of lovely things
I see every day at sunset/sunrise
(assuming the sun shows itself)











Ooh and I couldn't resist the romantic
rig pic...

Milton Friedman RIP

I have only just caught up with some articles and emails and found out that Milton Friedman died on Thursday.
His books have been an inspiration...and his ideas certainly have made a huge difference in this world.
Check out this link...
And read this book!

Small world

Something I forgot to mention about Sergey-the-geologist.
We were talking about where we are from etc and he started typing the name of his town into the computer to show me a webcam of it. When he had got to "Sara" I exclaimed "Not Saratov?!"
He was rather surprised! Of course then I told him when I had been there and why...and guess what...he did his thesis with my contact at the geo institute, Yuri Pisarenko! On the Pricaspian!

So he will pass on my best regards to Pisarenko and we had planned to take a photo of the geos from pad 26 to show him but that'll have to be some other time.

Note to self: remember to be blase about these situations-happens all the time, etc etc ;-)

-26 Deg C

That's it, I have gone past my record of -23 Deg C

I have been finding out a few rules about this kind of cold:

1. Do not think that because you are not feeling cold halfway to the work unit, that it is OK to stop and start looking at the rig
2. Always keep your mouth closed and breathe through your nose
3. When hiding your face in the top of your coat, do not breathe out through your mouth as the steam on your glasses will instantly freeze
4. Do not eat chillies as they make your nose run with freezing consequences
5. Do not forget to put your gloves on before going outside, especially when holding a piece of cake for later, and
6. Wearing 2 pairs of socks does not look weird, even if the outer ones have little pockets on them

Apart from that the scenery is beautiful as the pine trees are frosty and look amazing in the pink sunrise. There are no clouds in the sky which is lovely but somehow it gets colder during the day?!

Happy Birthday Florian!

Hope the winter barbecue goes well...hope you have the clear skies I have - but maybe not the temperature...

Temperature

It is -19 Deg outside and I needed to talk about this.
So now I have.
Brrrrrrrr!
When I got up this morning it was cooler than usual in my room. When I went outside I was glad for the gloves that I have finally remembered to start wearing, and felt the cold through my 2 trouser layers. When I went into the canteen and my work unit I could feel the cold radiating (does cold radiate???) off my jacket and hardhat. My eyes started stinging a little and I was wondering why my cheeks were feeling so cold -was it the light wind?- when I noticed that the Russians were wearing under-hats that covered the sides of their faces. So then I checked the thermometer.

K5

Yesterday was my first day on my own, back here on pad 5. We are currently drilling the last conductor section. Of course, everything went wrong in the morning: no DSV report (his computer had crashed), no mudlogger computer (crashed), the deviation data was OK but the mudlog data was wrong and it messed up my Winlog-and I thought it was me. To cut a long story short, I got the report out at 11 instead of 9. In the meantime it emerged that there has been a problem since about 7am, when we lost circulation. This is the process whereby “mud”is pumped down while drilling and bits of drilled rock come back up. They tried to restart it but it didn’t work, so they are trying to pull the bit out of the hole, which is difficult without circulation-they are getting stuck on the formations on the way up and are having to pull really hard.

That is still the status at the moment, where we are progressing by about 20m every 3 hours (and there I was getting used to really fast drilling speeds…) so I have made sure all my stuff is up-to-date and I have some free time now (strange concept!).
I can tell that all my inboxes are going to be really well organised after today…and I can do some Russian too JThis respite has given me a chance to “chat”with the mudloggers (they only speak Russian-I am getting very good at this nonverbal communication thing ;-) and with the Sperry Sun guys, as well as the DSV when he is not running around pulling out handfuls of hair. All good for when we finally get to the reservoir sections ahead-there are 4 coming up, let’s see how many we can do in 2 weeks!

Here are a couple of pics of the canteen:

All-night logging

I drove back to K26 at 9.30 in atrocious weather conditions (it had started snowing and my wipers still didn’t work-visibilty: 2m. It took me 1 hour to do 13 km. I almost turned back after 10mins but decided not to as a) I don’t like to give up and b) I couldn’t see the edges of the road to do a 3-point turn. The worst was really when the wind blew all the powder snow onto my windscreen…)
This was to be a PEX and also XPT job so it was Marc’s crew again. PEX was fast with no problems, XPT was shorter (only 10 pressure points instead of 30) and we were better organised than last time, thanks to Gilles’ feedback last time and Sergey’s presence. Sergey and Sasha were pretty tired as they hadn’t been able to catch a nap but I was feeling fine and again really enjoyed going up to the drill floor to look at the tool.
It was quite a long night but busy and I managed to stay awake fine-unlike Sergey who at one stage was falling asleep whilst reading out values for me to type up ;-)

This time I had some Petit Ecolier biscuits with me so I gave some to Marc, who got rather excited (SLB tend to eat smash out of a plastic pot) and also to Pierre the DSV (another Frenchie-haven’t seen so many for ages!)

When we got back to the unit at the end of the job, tired but happy, we switched on the kettle…and then the phone rang. This is never a good sign, because it is usually Alexey, instructing. But this time it was Gilles and he was really annoyed! Apparently we hadn’t sent all the data we should have (but we hadn’t been told) and he was worried the decision to finish the job had been taken too early. At the time we were rather annoyed, tired and did not understand the problem. Having slept on it though, a $35,000 job really does need to be done properly and there had been some miscommunication along the way. Anyway, Tuesday morning was pretty awful as we were scrambling to input more data, convert units, make excel charts-you can imagine what that was like with no sleep. Marc joined us for a cuppa and ended up spending 2 hours in excel and some time on the phone to Gilles trying to calm him down.

Finally the spreadie was sent and we went to CPF for Sasha’s licence (yes, still) and when we got back I gathered all my stuff and drove back to pad 5, with Sergey next to me and Sasha behind, as Sergey wanted to make sure I stayed awake (as his eyelids drooped…) while driving.
I thought I would read till dinner then sleep but I had a nap for an hour before dinner, ate then went straight back to bed, and really had to make myself get up in the morning for breakfast! I then read a bit (my first chance to relax) had a shower etc.

At this stage I lost my car, because Sasha the technician was going off shift and needed a lift to pad 7 and his B2B (back-to-back)’s car was broken so they took mine. After lunch Sergey and Sahsa picked me up and we went down to base camp as it was Sergey’s end-of-shift. Apparently he had stayed up till 2am typing up a handover that got lost due to computer crash-I can just imagine. In short, Sergey was more than ready to go home!
We caught up with Gilles, fed back on the day before, which was useful now that some of us had slept! I am now working with Alexey to make sure some of his instructions are clearer.

K7 to K26

Back here with Radik we waited for the reservoir section to be drilled, took and described cuttings (I’m starting to be a pro at this ;-) then waited for SLB to arrive-I went to bed at 8 and Radik picked me up at 12.30am! We did a standard PEX job, with a different crew; the engineer is a Russian girl, Irina, and is definitely less friendly and communicative than Marc. She has had attitude problems and warnings before, but she was OK with us.

We finished the job around 7 am and Radik went to bed (he hadn’t had time to sleep the night before) while I had a sleep in the work unit waiting for SLB results-never mind the beeping batteries and mudloggers computer, I was out like a light! At lunch I woke up Radik and we signed off the logging job. We then went to the CPF and Sergey and Sasha kidnapped me ;-)
The next day I started working with them in pad 26, as it was Sergey’s last few days and he wanted to make sure Sash and I new all the basics. We had a fun few days-Sergey sat me down and made me learn my Russian vocab, and I taught him some English back (although his was quite good already). We went through the motions-reservoir section was planned overnight but actually was delayed due to wash-outs in the drillpipe (this is when a piece of the formation comes off the edges of the hole). So I went to bed at 7pm with the CB and my mobile switched on, ready to go when they called me, and woke up at 7am! (although I kept dreaming I heard the phone ring) Again, we did cuttings etc then I went back that afternoon to get some sleep-I got about 3 hours before they phoned me to say SLB had arrived.
Here is a photo I found on the computer of someone taking a sample from the shale shaker (the technicians do it for us):

Long time no post

Sorry about that- I have been rushed off my feet, and then there was no network for about 15 hours. But now I have time to kill so here is a bit of an update. I will recap to when we left pad 54/rig1, if I can remember that is! Time is a rather alien concept at the moment-I only know the date thanks to our daily reports but I have no idea of what time of the day it is or what day of the week!

Moving to pad 5

After we left pad 54, we went by the CPF to try and get driving licences and give back bedding and towels from 54. We then went on to pad 5 (which is a Deutag-operated rig; 2 of the rigs are Deutag (German Co.) and 2 are SSK (Russian CO.) and met up with Sergey Ryzhkov, an experienced and very friendly geologist, who was going crazy trying to manage 3 wells at once.
We settled into the caravan where someone had made the bed! (there were dirty sheets when we arrived in 54, and we had to drive all the way to the CPF to get some clean ones). This bed has a proper quilt cover that fits! And for the dievushka (that’s me) there’s even a matching set of sheet, pillowcase and quilt cover. The second nice surprise was that the caravan had been cleaned and has been every day since. We also had water in there-me happy!
We then went for dinner, and this is when I realised that the stodge I had been eating at 54 really was not nice. Here the meals are very nice, and you can help yourself to salads (real ones, with vegetables an’ everyfink, out of large salad bowl, not just a desert-spoonful in a little plastic container), fruit and pastries. The only thing the Deutag rigs don’t have is a “shop”in the canteen so basically chocolate and biscuits are rare currency.
Which is why it’s a good idea to be friends with the Sperry Sun guys (drillers). (They gave me 5 bars of chocolate yesterday!! But I digress).
Anyway, Sergey allocated jobs to us-it appears that all the rigs were drilling production (reservoir) sections at the same time. So I was assigned to work on pad 7, which is pretty close to pad 5, with Radik. Radik was supposed to be in K54 but the well has had problems. The casing, which is the metal shaft they put down the well so that it doesn’t fall in (after we have done logging), got stuck and they couldn’t get it out. Since then they have had to detonate something down there to break it off so they could pull it back out and go down and try to clean out what was left. The hole is totally messed up though so they are having to sidetrack now, which is basically going down part of the existing hole and drilling out sideways trying to go through the same formations. What a mess.

Temperature variations

The weather here has been very variable. I thought it would be fun to plot it up so here goes:

The Russian language-русски язик

I have been meaning to write about this for a little while now.
When I first arrived I got really tongue-tied (yes, it does happen) in English and my Russian disintegrated to the point that I had to remind myself of how to say thank you and please. I put this down to the deluge of information and new experiences, as well as being rather tired after the last few weeks of work/sorting out the flat/hopping around Europe.
Anyway, after a few days I could start to make out words when people were talking, which is quite a challenge in this language as people speak really fast and swallow the ends of words.
After 2 weeks I often get the topic being discussed, and sometimes actually understand what is being said! Only of course on known topics but still I am quite happy on that front.
I had a boost the other day (day before expected night reservoir section)-when I got back from the nasty drive I described, I had to get out to show my pass to the security guy as it was the first time I went past there driving on my own. After he had helped me run after and catch the car, which had decided to slide away in the meantime (…) he decided to come round later and chat. So we had a rather bizarre but fun conversion where he spoke really fast in Russian with odd English word (about 3), lots of hand gestures and some drawings, and I did the same in English, with a bit more Russian thrown in. But it gave me a good boost to go and learn more!
The next morning, the canteen lady decided to chat to me as I was alone in the mess. She started really slowly with “WHAT…IS…YOUR…NAME…YOUNG…LADY?” but when I had answered that and asked her hers, she rapidly increased her speed to 1000 wpm. I still managed to gather that she lived in Nefteyugansk, that she has 2 daughters, one of them called Anna, who are students, one in economics and the other in tourism, and that she invited me to come and visit them all. And I managed to tell her where I am from, what I do, where I studied, and that I was going to pad 26-could I have a bag for the pastries I was taking? I got a bag, lots of pastries, yoghurts and fruit juice :-)
Which all came in very handy during the logging night…
Incidentally, it is hard to imagine the importance of bringing small things like pastries or chocolate to your fellow workers without being here-the small details are what really make the biggest difference!
Now I am here on my own and things are stabilising a bit I hope I finally have a chance to sit down and learn/revise my Russian, and actually try to use it elsewhere than in the canteen. Obviously it does help that the Deutag cook doesn’t just ask potatoricemacaronicabbageporkfishchicken but actually enunciates and looks rather happy when I remember the name of something!

Going to bed

I know, it's only 2pm but we have a 24-hour job ahead of us starting tonight so there will be radio silence from me for a while.

New look

I am going to be playing around with the settings on my blog in the next few days...don't worry, it's not you!

Awful weather!

After my post about the beautiful weather, things changed quite a bit!
Overnight, temperatures rose to about 0 degrees and it snowed a bit (10cm), after which it started raining-freezing rain. Of course, that morning was my first drive on my own...from pad 5 to 26, about 12km. The morning drive was interesting: it was still raining when I left but the windscreen wipers decided to give up after the first wipe...so I had to keep stopping every 2 minutes to wipe the windscreen...I was not a happy bunny! Luckily, the oil pump had been mended on Wednesday so the heating actually worked and helped melt off any ice I hadn't been able to brush off. I also tried to drive on fresh snow, to minimise the chance of skidding. Luckily there was no traffic at that time.
I got there in one piece, although the road leading up to pad 26 is terrible; it already was the days before, when everything was still completely frozen.
Until yesterday, driving anywhere was like trying to cross a giant ice rink with occasional patches of frozen gravel and/or sand. Day before yesterday, many roads had frozen tracks, which I had to stay 0n for fear of slipping off the edge of the road...but road 26 had the novelty of serious ruts (all frozen of course) including on bends...
My drive back yesterday evening was even more challenging, as much of the snow had melted and everything was just one messy, icy puddle. I decided to go very slowly all the way (15kph) which was a decision I did not regret when I felt the car slipping several times along the way...I think I have small slips under control now, although I would not want to test that theory too extensively.
As I peered into the darkness ahead through my cracked windscreen with a wiper stuck halfway on its journey up wishing as hard as I could that no-one would come the other way, I suddenly felt a strong connection to James Herriott and tales of his early experiences. I decided that if he could do it on the beautiful heights of Yorkshire, so could I on my journey through the Siberian taiga. So it was with renewed confidence that I slowly moved over to the right side of the road to pass the large lorry that was coming the other way!
When I finally got to pad 5 I phoned pad 26 and everyone sounded rather relieved! I must say that having the CB in the car blinking away as I drive is a rather reassuring thing too.
Safety-wise, I cannot believe we are not given advanced driving courses before coming out here. It is certainly an issue I will raise with The Hague as it is a serious problem. Regarding local HSE people, if that instructor had spent the time he did showing us videos about drink driving, on practical exercises to deal with skidding, I would be a much happier (and safer) person.
But at least I am able to get about...not so Sasha, who is still in the process of passing one of the many levels of the driving test for Russian staff...

What a beautiful day #3

Beautiful clear skies and -8 degrees for the third day running.
I see it's rather warm in Western Europe!

CPF

Going there again to pick up
my final licence I hope...
Here is a pic of the CPF,
some parts under construction
still. Spent several hours there
yesterday because the (t)rusty
Niva needed mending-took 3 hours
in the end! Went inside the CPF
to watch TV on the really nice
large flatscreen TV-managed to
see a French program!
Before that, Sasha had been doing his test,
and I got pulled in to watch a driver safety
presentation-I think we must have watched
a road safety video from every country
in the world...maybe they want us to drive
around in this instead:

Recycling wells

Following the comment about what they do with used wells/bits, here's a fun one, found at the CPF on one of the many trips there: formerly a perforation tool :-)

Viva la Niva!

I passed my driving test yesterday :-)

It has been a rather protracted affair though:

- Tuesday evening: went to CPF (main centre here with facilities, a bit like base camp) to see HSE/driving people about our licences. NIET. I do not have an international licence and Sasha did not have some form or other. Tomorrow (savtra), someone else will be on their rotation, ask them.

- Wednesday afternoon: back to CPF. Here is my licence. Why you need licence? Everybody give Dievushka(young lady) lift. Hahahaha. Very funny. Now gimme the licence! OK, read these safety instructions. Come back savtra

- Thursday afternoon: back to CPF. Radik let me drive, to get used to the car. Did medical test (breathaliser, blood pressure). Here is a copy of my licence. OK, what would you do if you breakdown? Run away? OK good. Let's drive, davai! Drive to main road, turn right (no traffic), drive at 40kph for 15 minutes, 3-point turn (no traffic), very good, back to CPF. Vot licence, but you must do medical again tomorrow and come back. Savtra, savtra.

-Friday afternoon: here is the medical certificate. Very good. You can drive! Savtra...

Sleep.........

I was not going to post anythign until the draft I have been writing for a couple of days now but...last night I went to bed at 8 and got up at midnight. It is now 8 in the morning and have just finished logging job with Schlumberger and breakfast. Am going to try and catch a bit of sleep while I wait for the Slb engineer to bring me the data. I have a driving test this afternoon!

Pad 54

Right, so I am aware that I have been telling things backward and owe everyone a proper update, so I am not going to post another message until I've written this one fully.

I last left you with Sasha and I cramming our heads full of information on pad 54.
The following morning, a geologist called Radik joined us and took over explanations.
The way wells are drilled here, a rig first drills 4 top, or "conductor" sections; then comes back and drills 4 bottom, or "reservoir" sections, which is the interesting bit as that is where it all happens. When we arrived on pad 54 they had just started drilling the reservoir section for one of the wells; while they drill we are supposd to input the data into a big file that compiles everything about the well, and also send updates and reports to a bunch of people, including basecamp.

When Radik arrived, we had started drilling the reservoir proper, ie where the oil is (or is supposed to be!). Pad 54 is on the Vadelyp field, which is a new one, and so a lot of information is being gathered here to better understand the field. In the reservoir we took and described cuttings-this involved Andrey-the-technician running to the shale shakers every 5m and then every 3 m, and the geologists having to describe the cuttings . As always, it takes a while to get your eye in, especially when sharing, but Radik was there to help.


That evening, we reached TD=total depth, which means the bottom of the hole. As geologists, we need to make sure this doesn't need updating-scary stuff as 10m of drilling can cost/save a lot of money!
We went to bed feeling rather tired and all overslept! But luckily most of the report we have to send in the morning was filled out already.

That day, we spent a lot of time filling in the big compilation file (called Winlog), making sure everything was ready for Schlumberger, who were due to arrive that evening to do logging-this involves putting sophisticated machinery down the hole to find out about gamma rays, resistivity of the different rocks etc, which are translated into sqiggles which are then interpreted by geologists.
Schlumberger messed up their logistics and even though they arrived in the evening, they could not start logging before early morning as they did not have their radioactive source (for the gamma ray). We decided to have an early night as it was going to be a long day ahead, but before we went to bed we met Marc, the Schlumberger head engineer, who showed us all the tools (Gilles had asked him to explain everything to us, which was very useful) and explained how they worked in a very clear manner.



The next morning, we started at 5 am, with the Schlumberger guys running the PEX (standard set of logs); this took about 4 hours, during which we had to input lots of things into Winlog. After that, Marc invited us up to the drill floor to take a look at a special tool for the next set of work-as I mentioned, this is a new field, so base camp also wanted some pressure information, through what is called an XPT procedure. For that, a tool with retractable pumps is used to suck out as much liquid as possible and see how long it takes for the pressure to stabilise.
It was really great going up on the rig floor for the first time :-) as well as seeing this rather snazzy tool. Sasha then took me round the rest of the rig-he used to be a mudlogger so knows how things are set up.



The next 7 hours were spent doing the XPT; we were doing about 30 points, so Sasha and I split them up-I had a bit of free time then, to walk around and take some photos.
We needed to fill in the XPT data in real time, so that base camp could make some decisions on doing more points or not-this involved using a laptop in the Slb unit and running backwards and forwards with a USB stick (which tends to happen a lot round here anyway-no idea how things managed to work before USB sticks)
Things got a bit hectic at this stage as we were a bit delayed with sending the spreadie to basecamp, and I had to go and check the DSV was OK with our going back in the hole but I wasn't sure what I was asking for! Anyway, we did a few more points then pulled out. A very busy but exciting and interesting day-Marc explained a lot as the pressures were being taken so I feel really confident about that process. He was being very good at explaining anyway but I decided to let him know halfway through about the French connection, so he made an extra effort to answer my silly questions!
Next day, we had to wait for them to give us all the final printouts etc, then Sasha and I moved from pad 54 to pad 5.

Farewell pad 54

Well, this was by no means the nicest pad in the world, which seems to apply to the other SSK-operated rig here too, but after all it was my first one and I will always have great memories of...

The Good...






Sasha and Radik: geo-power!









Sabaka, having just been sniffing around in the slurry pit (doesn't usually have black oily marks on her face!)


















Sergey, directional driller (Sperry Sun)

















Eyvgeny, MWD driller (Sperry Sun)











The Bad...





My room-not that bad but did not have bedsheets when we arrived and the ones we went to pick up did not fit the bed; the carpet looked nasty and there was no water in the trailer











and The Ugly...









Nuff said.










That's it for now, will try to update a bit more regularly :-)

Weather report

The weather here has been variable, to say the least!
As previously mentioned, I arrived during the first day of winter weather, with -8 degrees, wind and snow-road conditions so bad we were stuck at basecamp.
Next 2 days were pretty cold too, though the snow had stopped.
Since then things have warmed up, turning the area around the units into a cross between an ice rink and a mud pit.
It has been beautifully sunny here both on Sunday and Monday-some rather interesting effects of sublimation with the snow going stright from ice to steam.
Today it is actually +3 degrees and it is raining, which is a bit of a disaster in terms of trying to walk around-ice-lined puddles, mud, etc
Apparently, it is actually colder in Moscow at the moment...

Messages

Thanks to everyone for your emails and comments, it has been lovely to find them at random hours of the day-keep 'em coming!

Showers etc

Well, I arrived on Pad 5 last night and after being briefed on what's next, went and had a nice long shower in the women-only shower unit :-)) No more worrying about missing women's hours. Also nice to have lavatories that you can actually sit on, as opposed to ones where someone obviously forgot that people might actually want to close the door while they are INSIDE the cubicle, and still own a pair of legs...

20 hours

and counting...but a really interesting job logging with the Schlumberger guys.
Changing rig/pad tomorrow (I can finally have a proper shower!!)

A few photos

I have been using the unit's camera, but apparently someone has run away with the cable; however, the friendly drillers next door have lent me theirs so here goes:






Inside the unit













Describing samples















My new friend, Sabaka










The sun decided to come out
just as it was setting...
romantic rig pic

RIP camera

My camera is dead-I took some photos yesterday but they just come up as a collection of lines...
I will try using the rig camera, if I can find the cable.

Long Day

It is 21.42, we started at 6 this morning so I am off to bed-long day ahead tomorrow, logging.
Will write more whne I have more time.

Yesterday's thoughts

We left Base Camp after lunch-Sasha and I have been sent to Pad K54, in the Vadelyp area.
This is pretty much the worst pad here, but at least I am not alone and it isn't so bad, apart from the toilet situation.
Andrey, our technician, brought us here in the Lada Niva, and trained us up all afternoon/evening, but he only speaks Russian so luckily Sasha has been translating. I have my own room in teh geo-caravan, and share the place with the 2 boys, which is fine.
Yesterday we also met the mudloggers, drillers and of course, the DSV (drilling supervisor=boss).
I feel like someone has been hammering a conductor into my head...

в сибири

I'm here!
It is 9.15 and I have some free time...something tells me this might not happen very often in the next month. So I thought I would make the most of it and write a post-really not sure when I will next have time.

After an early morning pick-up for the trip to Heathrow, my two giant bags and I checked in successfully at the BA desk and I was free to enjoy the BA lounge, which I must say is rather nice, and serves a good breakfast. The flight went smoothly, and the weather was lovely with clear blue skies much of the way. Once I had finished marvelling at just how calcareous all the fields were, we started descending towards Moscow and I realised that the place was, in fact, covered in snow (doh!). The sun was low, the sky cloudless and I could see all the furrows blanketed in a thin layer of snow-what a lovely welcome.
Arrival in Moscow was a lot nicer (though colder-about 0 degrees centigrade) than last time-thank goodness I managed to avoid Sheremetievo! Domodiedovo is a lot more modern and pleasant to arrive, but that did not prevent me from having weak knees while standing in front of the passport control lady...however, no problems there, and I sailed straight through to the luggage area, then onto the arrivals hall after a brief encounter between a customs officer and my "bodybag" cold weather gear carrier.
The transfer to Vnukovo airport went smoothly and I only hit a hurdle at check-in: I needed to pay for extra luggage weight and they only accepted Rublei. Luckily, "пожалуйста, где банкомат" did the trick-thank goodness for last-minute extra Russian lessons :-)
In the businees lounge at Vnukovo, I met up with my friend Alexey, who was rather surprised to see me there!! Apparently, he has been promoted temporarily to Lead Geologist following someone's move. So I need to report to him-good job I know exactly how he works, thanks to G180!
We flew together to Surgut on UT airlines-nice service in business class, and I even managed to ignore the rather loud vibrations during take-off and landing. On the plane we met Viktor, a senior driller, who went on to help me with my giant black bag, and Alexander (Sasha), a new wellsite geologist, who carried my large red suitcase (which appeared to have been mauled by a pack of hungry wolves at this stage).
I have already learned one lesson: no more than one bag! I am lucky that, as a woman, there always seems to be someone to help. But this is actually a concept I need to get used to, along with always being offered the chair even when I have just arrived in a room and others have been waiting (much) longer. Oh, and not being breathalised. I need time I think-my automatic reaction is that it really feels wrong.
The plane arrived late in Surgut, which means that we only arrived at the hotel just before 2am...and minibus pick-up in the morning was scheduled at 5.25...Alexey insisted on going for a beer to introduce Sasha and me to the job and gave us a very formal introduction for 40 minutes...I think he is loving his new position :-) I escaped at about 2.45 and caught just under 2 hours' sleep before making it down for the minibus to the station. Again, thank goodness people helped me with the bags, which were a nightmare to fit into the cabin on the train. But we all got in safely as the train stays in Surgut for a while (which apparently is not the case in Salym-sometimes 40 seconds...but let's not think about that now) and after a little while we (Alexey, Ravil and Vitaly) all made up our beds and fell fast asleep. We were woken up later by the train attendant in preparation for arrival, but the train then had to stop for almost an hour. I was in the corridor gazing out at the snow which had just started falling, when I saw 3 men and a dog in bright jackets walking along the train tracks knocking at them with hammers and changing some pins in them (well, the dog didn't actually have a jacket, or a hammer for that matter). All very reassuring of course.
We finally arrived in Salym village, where the temperature was -8 degrees, were picked up by a minibus and headed to camp. After a long process, some garbled Russian attempt and Sasha's help I got my pass and we arrived at Base Camp. After lunch, we spent the afternoon sorting out HSE induction, medical induction etc etc . It was also handover time, and I had a quick chat with Mike (my back-to-back); also saw Misha, who sadly is leaving SPD today-I was looking forward to working with him. He wanted to change and asked for a Rijswijk posting but only got offered a local contract, so now he is joining Statoil. Don't get me started.
Had a chat and dinner with Gilles, the Team Leader, who is a pretty friendly frenchman! I have eaten pasta with a meatball twice today, but it was not too bad.
Time for bed I think...by the sound of it things will be really busy in the weeks to come, with large amounts of everything to learn, so I should try and start with a fresh brain...
Till next time then, from a very snowy (40 cm now-it has been snowing all afternoon, as a welcome present I imagine) Siberia...

Hectic Times

First step: complete! I am now in London, enjoying the thought that this is what I will be coming back to after 28 days in the gulag...

This weekend was rather busy packing everything up, making sure all bills are paid and everyone knows what to do for the next 6 months. We did manage to have a lovely dinner at a very nice restaurant on Friday, to celebrate my last day in the office, and see Swan Lake by the St Petersburg ballet company (rather appropriate I thought) on Saturday night.

Yesterday morning, after a rather short night (thank goodness for the extra hour) Matthew and I packed the 4 large bags and a couple of other bits into a minicab and left for the airport at 7 am. Everything went smoothly, including bright, sunny weather-what a lovely day to arrive home :-)

Today I am sitting in the TPA office sorting through the last bits of admin and I am supposed to be packing everything in time for tomorrow but am currently waiting for a certain colleague to give me their final comments on a report that needs to be published. ....................

I will be flying to Moscow tomorrow morning, and will try to post something Wednesday night when I finally get to the wellsite.

Till then...

Dates of my Siberian shifts

1st November-29th November: Salym
30th November-26th December: London
27th December-24th Jan: Salym
25th Jan-20th Feb: London
21st Feb-21st March: Salym
22nd March- 18th April: London


Bearing in mind that one day on either side of start and finish dates is taken up with travel.

Al Gore

Well ths one has nothing to do with my travels but now that I have a blog I might as well use it. I'll have to transfer my rants to another one some time.

In the meantime, Al Gore spoilt my breakfast this morning as I watched his sleazy slicked-back hair on the Breakfast Show; the BBC treehuggers were lapping it up. So I feel the need to share this video with everyone, made by the guys at CEI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPDWDl6_KbY

hmm I have yet to find out how to do hyperlinks on this thing

Anyway, watch it and pass it on!

Countries I've been to

I found this on Ash's blog. It looks a lot more impressive than it actually is but it's fun anyway...the message here is clear though! (cue Matthew, keyword: holidays)




create your own visited countries map

Welcome to my blog!

Hello all,

welcome to my blog. I can't believe how easy it was to create this.
I will be using these pages to post my travel logs and general impressions as I travel around the world. At some stage I hope to link this up to my website, which I have yet to sort out.

See you all here soon!

Florence x