Rig Views

[Zoro]

Zoro, I found this absolutely amazing as I love all big boys toys and what man can do when he sets his mind to it... I'd love to see the video and more photos. Bring them on I say. And love ya bike. I had an XR600 years ago and loved it.

Two question's though, have you had any unpleasant expierenses with pirates/kidnappers in your time. And how long have you been in this field?

Beau, I have not had any issues with pirates etc. However I have heard lots of stories. I have been on a rig that was just inside Aussie waters, you could just see Timor in the distance and we had a "fishing boat" with little fella's on it squatting and fishing, circling the rig. They made it around about 5 times before the support vessel came over with their FRC (Fast Rescue Craft, CPT Rob would have a pic of one of these I'm sure). The guys had to dress in white UN uniforms and hunt them away from us. There is an exclusion zone around the rig, its just not safe for them to be close by.
Boiled down we're just a time bomb waiting to go off, but there are so many safety components in place the risk of anything happening is quite rare but if the "holes in the cheese" line up, well it usually starts as a leak then bang, you're on fire.
If anything untoward was to happen one day I doubt a boat would even get close to us, the crane ops would attach something heavy to the crane wire and dump it on their boat before they had a chance to climb on board anyway. Not too much can stand in the way of a swinging 20T load, especially not a wooden fishing boat...

I have been on a rig when they were circulating a well, and everything filled with H2S (Hydrogen Sulphide). This is heavier than air so it settles in low areas. Can be fatal if the PPM's reach a high enough level, and if they get too high can explode. This stuff smells like rotten egg gas and it wipes out your sense of smell if PPM's are too high. If that is the case you would most likely drop unconcious (spelling) and die.
Everything that is outside is intrinsically safe but the biggest problem with an excess of gas on deck is it finding its way to the engine room, the engine breathes this stuff in and starts to "run away" then blows up/ hangs a leg out of bed/ conrod. Then you have a naked fire/ flame which can ignite any other gas that is floating around. There are special things in place to prevent this from happening though. Lots of alarms etc.
I have seen a well "kick" and everyone on the drill floor get covered in crap. A bubble of high pressure gas find its way to surface and spray everyone with drill mud and brine.
There is a safety disconnect within the BOP system that closes/ shears everything up and disconnects (Emergency Shutdown- ESD).
This is usually known as the "Helicopter Handle", because if its used you're getting on a helo. If used inadvertently you would also find yourself on the next helo back too, never to return.

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that sounds just like here except my hard drive is full of maths and physics lecture videos:'(

Somethings you just shouldn't say out loud........lol

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This is video below is as bad as the offshore industry has seen, for the loss of human life anyway.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdRcALtA8CE

Lots of safety issues lead to this disaster, could have been avoided very simply.
Hindsight's a b*stard...