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So.... what is it you do?

Posted: Sat Nov 19, 2011 11:12 am
by Mikie711
Thought some might be interested in what everybody does for a living so to kick it off I thought I would share what I was up to during the middle of 2011. Haven't been about much for the last 6 or 7 months because after 20 something years working in the North Sea I decided it was time for a change and took a job working on a new build project of a 6 generation dual activity drill ship.
What makes these significantly different from the usual drilling rigs most people have seen pictures of is that they have 2 drill floors side by side. The reasons for this a numerous and complicated but in a nutshell it allows one well to work continuously without stopping while the other drill floor (Aux) prepares the next assemblies for the main well.
They say a picture speaks a thousand words ..........

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Ocean Rig Poseidon on sea trials (no jokes about the name, heard them all :D )

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Looking down from the crown level, top of the derrick. You can see both well centers (red round things) One of the top drives (big black & decker drill) hanging in the derrick. The tall yellow thing holding a stand pipe is one of the 2 robotic racking arms called Hydrarackers. These can work in either manual mode, controlled from the cyber chair or in auto mode where the operator only confirms each step and the arm does the rest. Used for moving pipe in stands (3 or 4 joints screwed together about 120ft long) around the derrick.

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Another view this time looking up from the monkey board level (about half way up the derrick)

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One of 2 finger boards used to store the stands of pipe once they are made up.

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Another view this time from drill floor level, top drive on the left, both hydrarackers in the middle and you can see the lower and upper fingerboards on the right.

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The lower yellow thing is main wells hydratong which is a big spinning wrench and torque wrench in one. Will make pipe up to 115000lbs/ft. The bit sticking out from the derrick above it is the EBT (elevated back up tong). Allows pipe to be connected together when drilling while keeping the bit off the bottom of the hole.

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Some work going on aligning all the gear and tuning the ACS (anti collision system, bit like traction control for a drill floor :D )

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2 drawworks, basically big winches that raise and lower the top drive and anything that is connected to them. Max lift capacity is 907mt or about 2,000,000lbs.

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5 of 2200hp mud pumps rated at 7500psi. Each one can pump at 600 gallons per minute depending on the liner size and pressure.

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315801_10150350805509244_743004243_7999029_1353408869_n by Mikie711, on Flickr

One of the drillers hard at work!!


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Little sequence of pics of the BOP (blow out preventer) being delivered by an 8000ton dock yard barge crane (more on these later). The BOP is in 2 parts, the LMRP (lower marine riser package) is the bit that is already in place, and the BOP itself which has all the bits and bobs to allow us to shut off the well from the rig if it all goes wrong. All up weight when both bits are stacked is about 360tons.

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Power comes from these babies. 2 in the picture but we have 6 in total giving 8,000 KW each.

There you have it, what I get up to when I am not hooning about in my Evora.

Your turn :D

Re: So.... what is it you do?

Posted: Sat Nov 19, 2011 12:51 pm
by robin
I mess around flipping the state of invisible transistors :-)

Re: So.... what is it you do?

Posted: Sat Nov 19, 2011 1:06 pm
by Jacobite
Can't match yours Mike great pics btw

I've spent the last 20 months working as Chef in a wee restraunt in St Andrews 'The Dolls House' we've climbed to 3rd spot from 7th on Trip Advisor and mantained out 3rd place in the good food guide, turned over more than £1,000,000 produced more than 2100 meals/week for most of the summer and were still doing 150covers for dinner last Fri Sat

http://www.houserestaurants.com/

Re: So.... what is it you do?

Posted: Sat Nov 19, 2011 1:08 pm
by Mr Momo
Mike - Brilliant, thanks for doing this as I have been trying to figure out how dual derricks work.

I'll gather some photos and do something similar, hopefully achieving your standards !

Re: So.... what is it you do?

Posted: Sat Nov 19, 2011 2:41 pm
by Justin
Very interesting Mike. I'm at the other end in the Control Room.. So when you guys crack a MAC glass, it's MY peace you're interrupting! ;)

Couple of pics of where I spend 13 hours a day, no light, no windows, no fresh air!

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This was my Christmas tree last year..

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And most of Christmas day was spent..

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Re: So.... what is it you do?

Posted: Sat Nov 19, 2011 2:56 pm
by rossybee
Lucky you Justin - most of my Christmas day was spent outside in a snowstorm on here.... :roll:

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Re: So.... what is it you do?

Posted: Sat Nov 19, 2011 6:03 pm
by tut
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these two sum up my day.............


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tut

Re: So.... what is it you do?

Posted: Sat Nov 19, 2011 6:38 pm
by Alex 111s
rossybee wrote:Lucky you Justin - most of my Christmas day was spent outside in a snowstorm on here.... :roll:

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Bruce Platform?

Re: So.... what is it you do?

Posted: Sat Nov 19, 2011 6:52 pm
by scottishselise

Re: So.... what is it you do?

Posted: Sat Nov 19, 2011 7:10 pm
by rossybee
Alex 111s wrote:
rossybee wrote:Lucky you Justin - most of my Christmas day was spent outside in a snowstorm on here.... :roll:

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Bruce Platform?
Aye, but to be fair, the hook-up wasn't there at the time, so just the 3 platforms

Re: So.... what is it you do?

Posted: Sat Nov 19, 2011 7:14 pm
by rossybee
Oh and Justin - what CCR is that?

Re: So.... what is it you do?

Posted: Sat Nov 19, 2011 10:49 pm
by DavieK
Maintenance Mech on the Black Pig,

Used to goto the Bruce quite a lot in my old job with Sulzer, I went to school with one of the sparkies there as well.

Re: So.... what is it you do?

Posted: Sun Nov 20, 2011 7:52 am
by rossybee
Only been the once, left of the 27th December :roll:

Could easily return though as BP one of our clients. (lots of work on at Sullom Voe)

Re: So.... what is it you do?

Posted: Sun Nov 20, 2011 9:29 am
by H8OAG
This thread is now trending on Google and twitter as w*nk ammo for Toolpushers and Roustabouts :D

:cheers

Re: So.... what is it you do?

Posted: Sun Nov 20, 2011 10:27 am
by r055
:damnfunny
H8OAG wrote:This thread is now trending on Google and twitter as w*nk ammo for Toolpushers and Roustabouts :D

:cheers