Thursday, September 10, 2009
Garden update
I finally went round the whole garden with my camera to give you an idea of what it is looking like now-haven't finished planting things but a lot of the plants you will see below were only planted a month before the photos - amazing growth. And on the morning I left for home the hibiscus flower had opened! Also a few pics of the house (with the well-travelled Lizard), the guard house and his kitchen.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Day One in the field
4:53am: beep beep beep goes the alarm.....
Fall out of bed, into the shower, throw on some clothes and tumble out of the trailer into a sandstorm for the 5:30am toolbox meeting.
This is when everyone on site is gathered for a daily briefing before heading into the field. I randomly walk up to one of the groups (drivers as it happens) and hang around, taking in the spectacle of 450 men in PPE all huddled around. Where was the camera again?
As soon as this is finished I head over to the car park with Steve to inspect one of the personnel trucks (1 seatbelt broken, no aircon, no lights, seats falling apart, loose tools in the gangway = nothing special :s ) and just supervise departure time. The Chinese should be here doing this but there is not one in sight. With 70-odd vehicles here, all leaving between 6 and 6:30, it's important to check everyone is ok on departure.
We then head over to the radio room to check the Vehicle Tracking System and hear all the drivers reporting in as they leave camp. The tracking system map only shows the main survey area, not the perimeter and Steve decides to spend the morning in with Mr Ma-the-dispatcher to ensure he actually notices when a car breaks down & gets stuck, unlike yesterday.
But first, we head over to the senior staff meeting. Various issues are discussed, usually met with a 'yesyes' from the Supervisor here. Alternatively, embarassed laughs followed by 'no can do'. But they do promise to fix the junior crew's showers.
Grab some breakfast in the senior mess (western side) then head off into the field with John R...now the real fun starts :)
Plan is to drive up North, check out the sabkha (salt lake), pass by the UXO guys clearing the minefield then head back down. In the afternoon I'll be heading out to the recorder truck (seismic data) with John B.
As we drive along, 2 things become clear: 1) the repeater REALLY isn't working well and this is going to be a pretty frustrating situation 2) good thing we're in a serious 4x4 cos we keep having to drive straight up escarpements to try and pick up radio signals
Anyway, a bit further down the road, John suddenly spots something (how??? Eagle Eye...or maybe it's the 22 years of army training) and gets the driver to drive straight off the track. It's a mine! Well, actually two of them, marked by the usual pile of stones.
They are obviously empty so we mark them out with some sticks then radio in for the UXO guys (Ronco) to come and pick them up.
Then off to the sabkha we go, with a quick detour to see some of the Italian defense positions (there are even still rusty cans left around their 'trenches') as well as the main cut-off French mine line between the two jebels (hills/escarpements). This has not been cleared yet except for a small section so we tread carefully and don't stray from the tracks.
Italian defenses
French minefield...follow the barbed wire
Finally get to the Sabkha after passing the Turkish building company's base-they are building the new road (yellow top) through the area and just ploughing through the archaeology, including an old Turkish fort...well who cares after all, it's always the big bad oil companies who detroy the world, right?
The sabkha has a few small pools used by the locals to harvest the salt, which incidentally tastes really nice...should have brought a flask to collect some!
It is also clearly a challenge for seismic acquisition as it would be pretty difficult to drive a lot of vehicles regularly over the salt. Solution still to be determined...
On we go, then, to the exclusion zone through which safe lanes are being cleared by Ronco to be able to link the areas to the north and south of it. They can't do the whole thing because it would simply take too long - they already recovered several hundred mines in a very small area.
On the way there we come across the painting crew, whose job it is to paint the stones lining the exclusion zone white. Yesterday John spied on them and found them on their nth coffee break. When he showed himself they immediately sprang into action of course, then returned straight to their break as he hid himself away in his spyhole again. So they must have painted a good, well, 4 stones, yesterday. Anyway, they were at work when we arrived today so that was good-though it turned out that Mark from Ronco had found them all asleep a little while earlier and had given them a good telling off, so that might have had something to do with it.
By the way, most of the labourers here are from Chad and Sudan. The drivers etc are Libyans, supervisors/senior crew are Chinese and then there's us (the client), the mountaineers, the archaeologists and Ronco.
We head on and find Ronco at work on a new safe lane. They have cleared a good 300m already and are just having a break as we arrive, so summon us over. After signing a disclaimer and giving my blood group to the ambulance guy, we do just that and are greeted by the lads, led by Magnus - clearly from Sweden according to his accent. He kindly takes me along to the edge of the cleared zone and shows me their metal detectors: the main target are anti-tank mines, German Tellmines, French ones and Italian bar mines.
Ask a lot of questions, have a banter, then it's back off due south to camp.
Drive past a horde of camels driven by a touareg (could have been a National Geographic shot! yet I was too busy taking it all in to pull out the camera in time...) then across rocky terrain...puts the challenges of acquiring seismic out here into context...
The sandstorm is still blowing away and is rather worse on camp as there are objects there, causing the sand to scatter. We get back in time for lunch, a short 10 min nap (it's the wind, honest!) then it's off to the recorder...or so we think, until it transpires that the driving contractors and the Chinese are having a squabble as the Chinese are not supplying the drivers with engine oil (they are on low on the dipstick) or fixing the filter on the aircon. As a result, their boss in town tells them to standby...forget about going out again today then :(
John B runs me through the data files he gets from the recorder, the main challenges with the data out here (the operator!!) and the acquisition, then I head back to my room for a bit of web surfing...
Steve later drops by to take me on a tour of the camp and we inspect the junior toilets and showers (abysmal but better than before-they've even attempted to fix the leaks), their mess and even peek into one of the tents. Also check the generator, mechanic's workshop and geophone workshop. It becomes obvious to me that the Chinese just don't give a toss about the people working for them or anything they have signed up to in the contract. Worse still, our QCs are having to fight daily bitter battles just to get them to follow their own standards!! (which are rather lower than ours, it has to be said).
So, three conclusions about the Chinese operators: 1) they don't give a monkey's, 2) they don't know how to/don't want to/are hopeless at supervision, and 3) it is really easy to become very racist against them (am well on my way there, especially when I see the way they treat the Africans).
A fascinating day with so many things learnt: seismic acquisition can get very tricky in this kind of terrain, so I'll definitely make sure I check out terrain before planning any acquisition in the future; this area is such a major historic battleplace for WW2, a little like the Mareth line in Tunisia but on such a major scale...and I now know how to recognise a few mines and other ordnance; ex-army lads are really fun people to be around, if a little crazy ;); Chinese companies are a nightmare to work with and even worse to work for; we all navel-gaze and think we have class issues/need racial equality commissions and God knows what back home -> get real! This is where the real stuff happens. And this is where you learn about how tough life can get. And who the real bad guys are...
On that note, I'm off to bed as it's another early start tomorrow!
Fall out of bed, into the shower, throw on some clothes and tumble out of the trailer into a sandstorm for the 5:30am toolbox meeting.
This is when everyone on site is gathered for a daily briefing before heading into the field. I randomly walk up to one of the groups (drivers as it happens) and hang around, taking in the spectacle of 450 men in PPE all huddled around. Where was the camera again?
As soon as this is finished I head over to the car park with Steve to inspect one of the personnel trucks (1 seatbelt broken, no aircon, no lights, seats falling apart, loose tools in the gangway = nothing special :s ) and just supervise departure time. The Chinese should be here doing this but there is not one in sight. With 70-odd vehicles here, all leaving between 6 and 6:30, it's important to check everyone is ok on departure.
We then head over to the radio room to check the Vehicle Tracking System and hear all the drivers reporting in as they leave camp. The tracking system map only shows the main survey area, not the perimeter and Steve decides to spend the morning in with Mr Ma-the-dispatcher to ensure he actually notices when a car breaks down & gets stuck, unlike yesterday.
But first, we head over to the senior staff meeting. Various issues are discussed, usually met with a 'yesyes' from the Supervisor here. Alternatively, embarassed laughs followed by 'no can do'. But they do promise to fix the junior crew's showers.
Grab some breakfast in the senior mess (western side) then head off into the field with John R...now the real fun starts :)
Plan is to drive up North, check out the sabkha (salt lake), pass by the UXO guys clearing the minefield then head back down. In the afternoon I'll be heading out to the recorder truck (seismic data) with John B.
As we drive along, 2 things become clear: 1) the repeater REALLY isn't working well and this is going to be a pretty frustrating situation 2) good thing we're in a serious 4x4 cos we keep having to drive straight up escarpements to try and pick up radio signals
Anyway, a bit further down the road, John suddenly spots something (how??? Eagle Eye...or maybe it's the 22 years of army training) and gets the driver to drive straight off the track. It's a mine! Well, actually two of them, marked by the usual pile of stones.
They are obviously empty so we mark them out with some sticks then radio in for the UXO guys (Ronco) to come and pick them up.
Then off to the sabkha we go, with a quick detour to see some of the Italian defense positions (there are even still rusty cans left around their 'trenches') as well as the main cut-off French mine line between the two jebels (hills/escarpements). This has not been cleared yet except for a small section so we tread carefully and don't stray from the tracks.
Italian defenses
French minefield...follow the barbed wireFinally get to the Sabkha after passing the Turkish building company's base-they are building the new road (yellow top) through the area and just ploughing through the archaeology, including an old Turkish fort...well who cares after all, it's always the big bad oil companies who detroy the world, right?
The sabkha has a few small pools used by the locals to harvest the salt, which incidentally tastes really nice...should have brought a flask to collect some!
It is also clearly a challenge for seismic acquisition as it would be pretty difficult to drive a lot of vehicles regularly over the salt. Solution still to be determined...
On we go, then, to the exclusion zone through which safe lanes are being cleared by Ronco to be able to link the areas to the north and south of it. They can't do the whole thing because it would simply take too long - they already recovered several hundred mines in a very small area.
On the way there we come across the painting crew, whose job it is to paint the stones lining the exclusion zone white. Yesterday John spied on them and found them on their nth coffee break. When he showed himself they immediately sprang into action of course, then returned straight to their break as he hid himself away in his spyhole again. So they must have painted a good, well, 4 stones, yesterday. Anyway, they were at work when we arrived today so that was good-though it turned out that Mark from Ronco had found them all asleep a little while earlier and had given them a good telling off, so that might have had something to do with it.
By the way, most of the labourers here are from Chad and Sudan. The drivers etc are Libyans, supervisors/senior crew are Chinese and then there's us (the client), the mountaineers, the archaeologists and Ronco.
We head on and find Ronco at work on a new safe lane. They have cleared a good 300m already and are just having a break as we arrive, so summon us over. After signing a disclaimer and giving my blood group to the ambulance guy, we do just that and are greeted by the lads, led by Magnus - clearly from Sweden according to his accent. He kindly takes me along to the edge of the cleared zone and shows me their metal detectors: the main target are anti-tank mines, German Tellmines, French ones and Italian bar mines.
Ask a lot of questions, have a banter, then it's back off due south to camp.
Drive past a horde of camels driven by a touareg (could have been a National Geographic shot! yet I was too busy taking it all in to pull out the camera in time...) then across rocky terrain...puts the challenges of acquiring seismic out here into context...
The sandstorm is still blowing away and is rather worse on camp as there are objects there, causing the sand to scatter. We get back in time for lunch, a short 10 min nap (it's the wind, honest!) then it's off to the recorder...or so we think, until it transpires that the driving contractors and the Chinese are having a squabble as the Chinese are not supplying the drivers with engine oil (they are on low on the dipstick) or fixing the filter on the aircon. As a result, their boss in town tells them to standby...forget about going out again today then :(
John B runs me through the data files he gets from the recorder, the main challenges with the data out here (the operator!!) and the acquisition, then I head back to my room for a bit of web surfing...
Steve later drops by to take me on a tour of the camp and we inspect the junior toilets and showers (abysmal but better than before-they've even attempted to fix the leaks), their mess and even peek into one of the tents. Also check the generator, mechanic's workshop and geophone workshop. It becomes obvious to me that the Chinese just don't give a toss about the people working for them or anything they have signed up to in the contract. Worse still, our QCs are having to fight daily bitter battles just to get them to follow their own standards!! (which are rather lower than ours, it has to be said).
So, three conclusions about the Chinese operators: 1) they don't give a monkey's, 2) they don't know how to/don't want to/are hopeless at supervision, and 3) it is really easy to become very racist against them (am well on my way there, especially when I see the way they treat the Africans).
A fascinating day with so many things learnt: seismic acquisition can get very tricky in this kind of terrain, so I'll definitely make sure I check out terrain before planning any acquisition in the future; this area is such a major historic battleplace for WW2, a little like the Mareth line in Tunisia but on such a major scale...and I now know how to recognise a few mines and other ordnance; ex-army lads are really fun people to be around, if a little crazy ;); Chinese companies are a nightmare to work with and even worse to work for; we all navel-gaze and think we have class issues/need racial equality commissions and God knows what back home -> get real! This is where the real stuff happens. And this is where you learn about how tough life can get. And who the real bad guys are...
On that note, I'm off to bed as it's another early start tomorrow!
In the desert!
Well, long time no post but if I keep waiting to catch up I will never write again. So, onwards...
I am currently sitting in the desert again, but not on the rig this time.
We are currently acquiring seismic data and I was given the opportunity to come and see what a seismic crew looks like, and finally made it out yesterday!
Unfortunately I am only here till Thursday but a flavour of it is better than nothing, though I would of course prefer to actually get some experience working out here rather than just visiting.
Anyway, so yesterday I hopped back on my favourite (!) flight to the rig then on to Brega, hoping there wouldn't be any issues this time (there weren't :). Got picked up in Brega and headed off on the 3-hour drive to the camp with a planning man on his first visit, and a Chinese mountaineer.
As we were starving, we asked Ahmed the driver to stop somewhere on the way, thinking we could grab a quick sandwich. Ended up eating really tasty Libyan soup and couscous in a random roadside cafe-loved it:) Plus, I got to practice a bit of Arabic with Ahmed and the people in the cafe so that was nice.
Arrived on camp and met up with the 'QCs' - ie the Shell guys whose job it is to check how things are going and assist/advise the operator, BGP (Chinese company) with the work. More on that later but I'd seen all of them in the office before so that made it easier. They are all ex-army chaps and therefore characters-some here to deal with the UXOs (unexploded ordnance), other with safety or technical supervision.
After all the necessary inductions, on of the chaps took me round the camp briefly and I took a few pics to give you an impression of what it is like out here on camp. Here they are, a slightly different set-up than a rig camp, not least because there are about 400 people on site!
The camp:
Dispatcher, who is supposed to monitor the movements of all the cars & trucks:
They use VHF radios through a couple of repeaters, though unfortunately one of the
repeaters seems to be broken and we are not authroised to use direct channels...
The survey fleet - all of them Defenders
The chaps (Steve and John B):
Random chappie walking by:
Living quarters for the junior crew (labourers), 6 men to a tent...
My trailer, shared with John R...client trailers are rather more comfy. Plus, I have control of the mobile phone repeater :)
Oh, and remember this?
Salym temperatures
Well...
I am currently sitting in the desert again, but not on the rig this time.
We are currently acquiring seismic data and I was given the opportunity to come and see what a seismic crew looks like, and finally made it out yesterday!
Unfortunately I am only here till Thursday but a flavour of it is better than nothing, though I would of course prefer to actually get some experience working out here rather than just visiting.
Anyway, so yesterday I hopped back on my favourite (!) flight to the rig then on to Brega, hoping there wouldn't be any issues this time (there weren't :). Got picked up in Brega and headed off on the 3-hour drive to the camp with a planning man on his first visit, and a Chinese mountaineer.
As we were starving, we asked Ahmed the driver to stop somewhere on the way, thinking we could grab a quick sandwich. Ended up eating really tasty Libyan soup and couscous in a random roadside cafe-loved it:) Plus, I got to practice a bit of Arabic with Ahmed and the people in the cafe so that was nice.
Arrived on camp and met up with the 'QCs' - ie the Shell guys whose job it is to check how things are going and assist/advise the operator, BGP (Chinese company) with the work. More on that later but I'd seen all of them in the office before so that made it easier. They are all ex-army chaps and therefore characters-some here to deal with the UXOs (unexploded ordnance), other with safety or technical supervision.
After all the necessary inductions, on of the chaps took me round the camp briefly and I took a few pics to give you an impression of what it is like out here on camp. Here they are, a slightly different set-up than a rig camp, not least because there are about 400 people on site!
The camp:
Dispatcher, who is supposed to monitor the movements of all the cars & trucks:
They use VHF radios through a couple of repeaters, though unfortunately one of the
repeaters seems to be broken and we are not authroised to use direct channels...
The survey fleet - all of them Defenders
The chaps (Steve and John B):
Random chappie walking by:
Living quarters for the junior crew (labourers), 6 men to a tent...
My trailer, shared with John R...client trailers are rather more comfy. Plus, I have control of the mobile phone repeater :)
Oh, and remember this?
Salym temperatures
Well...
Thursday, April 30, 2009
nothing posted
There hasn't been much activity on here in a while for various reasons. Mostly, busy Tripoli life, as well as the lack of internet outside the office. Also sometimes just don't feel like writing, and now is one of those times...for many reasons to long and complicated to explain here.
I have a large number of photos I have been taking for this blog so should update them soon-please bear with me!
I have a large number of photos I have been taking for this blog so should update them soon-please bear with me!
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Logging all night :)
First off, the Halliburton truck came in and we ran a caliper log, to see how big the hole is.
I left Chris the wellsite geologist to do the witnessing as I had picked the night shift ( in case I need to work tonight so I can still make the flight back to town). Tried to get some sort of rest between 4pm and 11pm, then up to start my shift at midnight.
By this time, the Boys in Blue had rolled up to take over and so it was just like old times, sitting there all night watching them do their thing.
Chris is on shift now and we are pushing ahead so I should try and get a couple of hours of rest before calling it a day. In the meantime I leave you with a few photos from our (I was going to say little but it's so) big rig and the funny set-up with both Boys in Red and Boys in Blue (couldn't find a good reason/excuse to get them to line up their trucks together lol).
Rig pets:
In theory, it's back to town on the flight tomorrow, if the wind dies down that is! Can't wait for all the meetings..........................................
I left Chris the wellsite geologist to do the witnessing as I had picked the night shift ( in case I need to work tonight so I can still make the flight back to town). Tried to get some sort of rest between 4pm and 11pm, then up to start my shift at midnight.
By this time, the Boys in Blue had rolled up to take over and so it was just like old times, sitting there all night watching them do their thing.
Chris is on shift now and we are pushing ahead so I should try and get a couple of hours of rest before calling it a day. In the meantime I leave you with a few photos from our (I was going to say little but it's so) big rig and the funny set-up with both Boys in Red and Boys in Blue (couldn't find a good reason/excuse to get them to line up their trucks together lol).
Rig pets:
In theory, it's back to town on the flight tomorrow, if the wind dies down that is! Can't wait for all the meetings..........................................
Saturday, March 21, 2009
At the rig :)
Written yesterday (Friday):
After a rather surreal 28 hours, here I am finally on the rig again!
We have been planning some logs for quite a while now (in fact, since that rather hectic week I mentioned a while ago), and as they will take some time we need to have 2 people to witness the logging.
Theoretically, our petrophysicist Leon should have gone but his visa didn't come through-the Libyan Embassy in The Hague is very Dutch about its paperwork and prioritising applications...
Also had a volunteer in the office, Paul, to cover in case Leon couldn't make it but as it is now the weekend he wasn't willing to follow up on this...and I couldn't really push as it was asked of him as a favour.
As a result I had to come out myself-in a way I am very happy to be back on site again, but I am also having to do 2 jobs at once - the office ops job as well as the wellsite one, so things are going to prove a bit of a challenge...
Anyway, having parked the dog with Chris and his dog Snoep, I got a lift into the office yesterday morning to do a quick couple of hours' work before setting off on the lunchtime flight. The flight plan, as always, was to first fly to Brega and drop people going to the seismic crew/gas plant, then on to Amal, the Veba airstrip we use in the middle of the desert.
After a late departure from Tripoli, we flew over some very cloudy and grey skies to Brega (1h45min). After a very wet & windy landing we waved goodbye to the people stepping off...then had to get off ourselves for refuelling. Turns out we also had to get off to wait on the weather...apparently it wasn't raining in Amal but very windy with a huge sandstorm!! As I didn't really want to go to the rig until Saturday (when the job is expected to take place) I had been making sandstorm jokes before leaving...teach me a lesson!!
As there weren't going to be any flights available till Sunday, Charles (friendly logistics guy) called to say he was arranging for some of us to stay overnight in Brega then get driven to the rig in the morning (couldn't make it yesterday as it was already 3pm and wouldn't have arrived before dark).
After a while the pilot called us over and summoned 4 of us (the chosen few, hehe) to come and take our bags off the plane. Everyone else got turned back to Tripoli...with me were Martin, the DSV, Dave, a mud guy who is in Libya for the first time and has only ever worked North Sea, and AbdulKarim, a young Libyan fresh from high school and going to assist Dave and around the rig. A fifth guy ended up joining us, Abduallah, the logistics chap from the rig.
We were met at the airport by Abdul, the Journey Manager for Brega, who had arranged for some cars to pick us up and take us the InterBeton camp, right next to our supply base. At this stage things were starting to feel distinctly odd as it was raining and windy and Brega is an industrial site-all felt a bit like being near the British seaside somewhere in the North East!
We hadn't really had any lunch and dinner was uncertain (Abdul was going to try & arrange some sandwiches) so we made our way from the camp back to an area where we had spotted some shops and a bakery. Ended up in a little fast food shop where we had delicious fajitas with fresh bread from the bakery next door...once more extremely random but a fun little adventure!
People there were very friendly, Abdulkarim made it all easier and it was rather amusing watching Dave adapt to the culture shock AND the randomness (I think this might have been his first time outside Europe). He also loves fresh bread so we had to stop at the bakery and got some of the large flat bread that is often found here. I have never seen anyone so excited about watching bread being made, having it handed to them and wolfing a whole one down in less than 5 minutes (after having consumed 2 tasty fajita sandwiches by the way!!).
Walked back to the camp and wondered what on Earth to do...I have been really tired the last few days and all I could think of was going to bed but couldn't really justify it at a quarter to five...! So luckily I brought my laptop this time as I ended up sorting through some photos and reaing a magazine.
Turns out Abdul had managed to convince the camp chef to make something quick for us anyway so he turned up around 7 carrying a tray with a burger sandwich and a slab of apple tart! Feeling rather full, I saved most of it for today and eventually had quite an early night.
This morning it was a different world. The rain had stop and it has been an absolutely beautiful day, probably about 20 degrees with bright sunshine. Turns out the Interbeton camp is pretty nice-they even have a tennis court - how come nobody told me to bring my racket ;), as you can see from the photos.
Had some breakfast then had to wait for the Vito (van) to arrive from the rig to pick us up. When he came we all jumped in then headed along the blacktop rather than the pipeline road, as we were not in a 4x4. This meant a longer trip though, going through the town of Ajdabiya where we stopped quickly for coffee and a milkshake, then on along the big NNW-SSE road to the turn-off for the rig.
The desert gradually changed from low rolling hills with small plants to the empty arid plains that our rig is located in. We saw a few birds and camels on the way, but these soon grew rarer.
The blacktop to the rig:
Abduallah used to be a vibroseis truck operator in the Ajdabiya area and new it pretty well so was pointing out the main sites and seismic lines as we drove along. After a while we all fell asleep :) then woke up when the driver had to take his break, just on the turnoff to the rig. This allowed me to hop out and take a few shots, which I hadn't been able to do last time :)
Road to the rig:
That's it for now, need to sort out some bits and pieces and make sure we are all lined up for the job and just keep everything crossed that it goes well or I might just decided to stay here permanently and not go back to town ;)
Travellers:
From left to right: Abdulkarim, Abduallah, driver, Dave, Martin
After a rather surreal 28 hours, here I am finally on the rig again!
We have been planning some logs for quite a while now (in fact, since that rather hectic week I mentioned a while ago), and as they will take some time we need to have 2 people to witness the logging.
Theoretically, our petrophysicist Leon should have gone but his visa didn't come through-the Libyan Embassy in The Hague is very Dutch about its paperwork and prioritising applications...
Also had a volunteer in the office, Paul, to cover in case Leon couldn't make it but as it is now the weekend he wasn't willing to follow up on this...and I couldn't really push as it was asked of him as a favour.
As a result I had to come out myself-in a way I am very happy to be back on site again, but I am also having to do 2 jobs at once - the office ops job as well as the wellsite one, so things are going to prove a bit of a challenge...
Anyway, having parked the dog with Chris and his dog Snoep, I got a lift into the office yesterday morning to do a quick couple of hours' work before setting off on the lunchtime flight. The flight plan, as always, was to first fly to Brega and drop people going to the seismic crew/gas plant, then on to Amal, the Veba airstrip we use in the middle of the desert.
After a late departure from Tripoli, we flew over some very cloudy and grey skies to Brega (1h45min). After a very wet & windy landing we waved goodbye to the people stepping off...then had to get off ourselves for refuelling. Turns out we also had to get off to wait on the weather...apparently it wasn't raining in Amal but very windy with a huge sandstorm!! As I didn't really want to go to the rig until Saturday (when the job is expected to take place) I had been making sandstorm jokes before leaving...teach me a lesson!!
As there weren't going to be any flights available till Sunday, Charles (friendly logistics guy) called to say he was arranging for some of us to stay overnight in Brega then get driven to the rig in the morning (couldn't make it yesterday as it was already 3pm and wouldn't have arrived before dark).
After a while the pilot called us over and summoned 4 of us (the chosen few, hehe) to come and take our bags off the plane. Everyone else got turned back to Tripoli...with me were Martin, the DSV, Dave, a mud guy who is in Libya for the first time and has only ever worked North Sea, and AbdulKarim, a young Libyan fresh from high school and going to assist Dave and around the rig. A fifth guy ended up joining us, Abduallah, the logistics chap from the rig.
We were met at the airport by Abdul, the Journey Manager for Brega, who had arranged for some cars to pick us up and take us the InterBeton camp, right next to our supply base. At this stage things were starting to feel distinctly odd as it was raining and windy and Brega is an industrial site-all felt a bit like being near the British seaside somewhere in the North East!
We hadn't really had any lunch and dinner was uncertain (Abdul was going to try & arrange some sandwiches) so we made our way from the camp back to an area where we had spotted some shops and a bakery. Ended up in a little fast food shop where we had delicious fajitas with fresh bread from the bakery next door...once more extremely random but a fun little adventure!
People there were very friendly, Abdulkarim made it all easier and it was rather amusing watching Dave adapt to the culture shock AND the randomness (I think this might have been his first time outside Europe). He also loves fresh bread so we had to stop at the bakery and got some of the large flat bread that is often found here. I have never seen anyone so excited about watching bread being made, having it handed to them and wolfing a whole one down in less than 5 minutes (after having consumed 2 tasty fajita sandwiches by the way!!).
Walked back to the camp and wondered what on Earth to do...I have been really tired the last few days and all I could think of was going to bed but couldn't really justify it at a quarter to five...! So luckily I brought my laptop this time as I ended up sorting through some photos and reaing a magazine.
Turns out Abdul had managed to convince the camp chef to make something quick for us anyway so he turned up around 7 carrying a tray with a burger sandwich and a slab of apple tart! Feeling rather full, I saved most of it for today and eventually had quite an early night.
This morning it was a different world. The rain had stop and it has been an absolutely beautiful day, probably about 20 degrees with bright sunshine. Turns out the Interbeton camp is pretty nice-they even have a tennis court - how come nobody told me to bring my racket ;), as you can see from the photos.
Had some breakfast then had to wait for the Vito (van) to arrive from the rig to pick us up. When he came we all jumped in then headed along the blacktop rather than the pipeline road, as we were not in a 4x4. This meant a longer trip though, going through the town of Ajdabiya where we stopped quickly for coffee and a milkshake, then on along the big NNW-SSE road to the turn-off for the rig.
The desert gradually changed from low rolling hills with small plants to the empty arid plains that our rig is located in. We saw a few birds and camels on the way, but these soon grew rarer.
The blacktop to the rig:
Abduallah used to be a vibroseis truck operator in the Ajdabiya area and new it pretty well so was pointing out the main sites and seismic lines as we drove along. After a while we all fell asleep :) then woke up when the driver had to take his break, just on the turnoff to the rig. This allowed me to hop out and take a few shots, which I hadn't been able to do last time :)
Road to the rig:
That's it for now, need to sort out some bits and pieces and make sure we are all lined up for the job and just keep everything crossed that it goes well or I might just decided to stay here permanently and not go back to town ;)
Travellers:
From left to right: Abdulkarim, Abduallah, driver, Dave, Martin
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