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...