A Few Gray Hairs

Oh the shame, the shame! It's been over a month since my last post. I have been shockingly remiss in keeping you abreast on oilfield news, and for that you have my apologies.

I returned to the Gulf of Mexico a mere five days ago, and I have quickly transitioned through all my major reasons for not posting. From the previous "not on a rig and therefore not posting" to the ever-disappointing "mired in boredom from lack of work on the rig and therefore feel like I have nothing interesting to post", after which the "far and above too busy with work to have time to post".

I arrived here with the directive to rig up all of the equipment and prepare for the first drilling run. At first I was mostly prevented from accomplishing this goal due to the fact that only one third of our equipment was actually on the rig. The rest was floating on the boats it had come out on, unable to be offloaded due to the high winds making crane activity dangerous.

So we did what we could with what we had, which mainly entailed running dozens of cables all over the surface of the rig and installing the few sensors we could. When the rest of our equipment did show up I soon regretted I had ever hoped for such a day.

There were so many problems I did not know where to start. I was overwhelmed, under-rested, and completely at a loss as to how to solve them all. Worse yet, I was in charge. I have the responsibility for this job. I have my name next to the title of "Cell Manager" in the daily reports. I am the one who has to answer for any mistakes. It was nearly enough to send me off the side of the rig and swimming the hundred miles or more to shore. I was a wreck.

But as of this morning I have somehow reached a state of equilibrium, if not success. The equipment having problems that could be solved was fixed, and the equipment with problems that could not be solved will soon be replaced. There are many things that could go wrong between now and when we begin drilling, but I can't solve problems that haven't occurred yet -- or so I tell myself. I am in the eye of the (figurative) hurricane. Once we do start drilling it will be a non-stop race to the end of this projected 40-day well. It's going to be a fast-paced frantic train-wreck of a job and I'm sure to have a few more gray hairs by the end of it. Maybe it's the rarely-seen pessimist in me, but I'm girding my loins for the worst.

Wish me luck!