Logging

...didn't quite go according to plan for reasons that I am too tired to go into so just thought I would leave you with a picture of the rig I took yesterday morning :-)

Rig life so far

So, I have now been here 24 hours and I still get a flutter when I step out of the office container and look up at the rig. Especially at night when it is all lit up and purring away :-)

Well first off, I won't be able to give you as much info as when I was out in Salym, as the work here is rather a lot more confidential. But I will give you as much as I can.

The rig here is a lot bigger than the ones I have been on previously! It also does not have a staircase up the derek (the pointy bit) but a rather exposed ladder, so I am not feeling the photos from the monkey board this time...

It is also rather a lot dirtier, partly due to the drilling mud used (it is oil-based mud which makes the whole thing a lot stickier and messier than water-based) but also to the crew not taking as much care of their work environment.

I get quite a different feel from the team here, definitely not as integrated as what one might expect on a rig, but they seem to be working on it and slowly improving.

Last night we had a meeting about logging with the 2 DSVs, Toolpushers and Wellsite engineers (Day&Night shifts) where I got to explain the plan and quizzed about the pressure testing in the well. On the whole I enjoyed that, as I felt I knew what I was talking about though it felt strange getting used to this new position - ie Town come to the Rig, rather than completely part of the team. However, I am trying to work on that one :-)

I am the only woman on the rig, all the cleaners and cooks here are male too. I was wondering how that would pan out over here but so far it hasn't been much of an issue. Except for the night DSV who thought he could talk over me after asking a question for the geologist, and generally fits the description of a mysoginistic so-and-so. But I managed to deal with that, feeling that everyone else was actually 'on my side'.

That's it for now, enjoyed some Christmas pudding today, shared with Andrew (wellsite geo) and Scott (Scottish mud guy) as well as Doug (canadian toolpusher). By the way there is a huge number of different nationalities on this rig, which I think is pretty unusual-I've got to 17!!

The rig and camp are separate, about 10-15mins' walk or a quick car ride, which apparently is usual for HPHT rigs (keeping most people/living quarters at a distance in case of problems). I am lucky to have got a room at the rig, which means I can roll out of bed in the morning without it being too painful :-) and fall asleep to the purring of the rig. I had almost forgotten the permanent noise of a rig and how comfortable that sound becomes (silence = problem!)

The desert here is so flat and empty it makes the moon seem positively exciting (well, you know, other than being in space and stuff). Next time we need to pick one of the other deserts here for our well location!! But it is a really strange feeling, the rig looks really exposed in the middle of nowhere - haven't even seen any animals or anything, just a couple of flies on the rig. A few pylones are visible on the horizon...I think. Or it could be a mirage. Who knows!

Even the darkness looks different. On the walk over to camp from the rig for dinner last night, I noticed the horizon looked really dark and well...it's a very hard thing to describe, empty darkness...

I am really enjoying taking it all in and transposing my experiences into the Arabic/Libyan version. My ear is still automatically straining to hear Russian but I am trying to learn a few bits of Arabic here, I already know how to say 'crazy old man' ;-)

That's it for now, I am off to take some photos if I can find someone who will lend me a camera...

Here are some photos of our Christmas Dinner last night :

Decorations

The Toolpusher's plastic tree (it had flashing lights :-)

A royal spread...and two amazing huge turkeys!!

At the rig !!! :-)))

Just a quick one to say that after 3weeks of waiting, 1 day of 'definitely not going', and 1 day of ('definitely going'), mad panic re-organising everything including flights home I travelled out to the rig this morning and arrived here on T202 around 11am. The plan is to witness some logging, probably tomorrow evening, and over the next 3 days (Andrew the wellsite geo and I will be alternating). We will be logging with Halliburton.
This evening we were given a slap-up meal for Christmas which was lovely-photos to follow. It made the lousy timing a lot better.
I am pretty tired as have been doing the ops for almost 4 weeks and had a very short night last night due to packing/early flight.

So for now, ***********MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE**************

Helena's house

I ended up having a nice day yesterday for Eid. Came in as usual before 8 to do the ops reporting and morning call and the server was still not working. In fact it had got worse so my computer kept crashing asa I did anything...so I decided to call it quits (nothing much going on with drilling anyway) and go home. Actually I ended up calling Avantika as I knew she was going to the beach in Tajura with her friends, so I raced back, bundled the dog into the car and followed them to the beach.

The weater here has been lovely, about 15 degrees and really warm sun so it was quite enjoyable, though Tajura was stuck under a cloud most of the time.

Tripper had never seen the sea before and it was pretty amusing watching him discover and race the waves!

Headed home around lunchtime and had a snooze in the sun, enjoying in the all-pervasive barbecue smell (yes, sheep sheep and sheep - the last few days have been pretty amusing with sheep turning up in the most random places!)

I spent the rest of the afternoon unpacking my cases and bags properly, re-organising things that need too go to my new house and generally sorting through paperwork. Also got a chance to take a few pics of the house so here they are.

Helena's house:

The view outside the gate:

I want one!

It's a hard life being a naughty dog...

Back-post

I just published an old post about my housing situation here

Dog

Well on Thursday I moved out of Avantika's house, as she had some friends coming to stay, and into Helena's house, who is away for a month and needed a house-sitter.

All this because of course, my landlord still hasn't finished the house, spent all the money (on a new car :-~( and hasn't got back to fixing things again.

However, now that I am on my own in a dog-friendly house I have been able to bring the dog home with me and actually spend some time with him :-))

So, meet Tripper (named after Tripoli of course!):

I have started training him: first to sit, which he is learning quite fast (it's only been a day! but he remembers when he is paying attention to what I say). I also need to house train him (right now I tend to leave him outside during the day but if it rains that might not be ideal-until he has his kennel in my own house that is)

Playing catch-up

There has been so much going on (good and bad) recently that I just haven't had a chance to write anything. Apologies for anyone who doesn't get my 1-line Facebook updates.

I am goingt o post a bunch of things that won't be in order but they should give a good idea of things here.

Can I just re-iterate that I cannot possibly understand how anyone would get bored here...triple-bookings are a regular feature!!