Rig notes from Mark

When Mark called last night he said they had been told that one of the cable news networks (CNBC, I think) were coming out to their rig see a working shallow-water rig sometime in the next couple days.  Given that there is NOTHING he doesn't know about those rigs, he will no doubt be one of the main spokespersons.  Cool!  

Here is a picture of one of their shallow-water rigs.

Here is Mark's e-mail from last night [braketed info and pictures inserted by me]:

"We have been parked at Main Pass Blk 59 (50 miles due east of Venice, Louisiana in 14 fathoms of water) doing leg repairs for the last ten days (fixing a dent from a boat strike on a forward leg) and we're now waiting on an MMS permit. They pulled our permit while we were moving to this location ten days ago and it is being "reviewed" as we speak.

This is the location where we will drill (he said hopefully).  With the leg repairs finished, we jacked up to a 60' air gap yesterday [this is the space between the rig floor and the water surface as shown in the picture below] -- the work position required during hurricane season. Every time I start another six foot stroke to raise the rig I always mumble 'up Simba up' !!! "

During hurricane season and when the rigs are not working, they are "stacked" -- that is, parked in a group with walkways extended between them so that just a few men can maintain the entire group.  Mark has always been one of those few men who are kept on the payroll, even when there is no work since after 30-some years as maintenance supervisor, he is familiar with every aspect of these rigs.  Here are a couple of stacked rigs.

But back to Mark's note:

"A bunch of shrimp boats were circling and clustering near-by. We listened in on the VHF radio to their chit-chat. The "central boss" told them they were on top of a slick that need to be rounded up.  The boats say back that there is no slick. Boss voice says it is verified.  Boats say they have verified with their own eyes that it's not. A whole bunch of angry and aggravated Cajuns !! Expletives deleted. A truly well run response.

Admiral Thad Allen is a gentleman and a scholar, but we don't need an Omar Bradley on this job, we need Patton !!! Where is General Honoré when we need him !!!

A work boat brought us potable water yesterday and as he moved about to tie up, the whole area looked like a bubble bath. There is a lot more dispersant in the water than any one is letting on.

Rumor has it that a news crew from a national network will come out here to our rig in the next couple of days to see a shallow water rig and we are diligently getting ready. We have a most excellent safety and performance record going back 32 years and are pleased mightily that the company singled us out.

I'm out of here in three more days to once again become a free man with an over grown yard. Let's hope that after 60+ days "they" will start getting their act together. "

 

Of course I'm glad he'll be home shortly.  But I try not to think about how he has to come and go from the rig when they arrive or depart by boat.  By helicopter, it just lands on the heliport, but when they use a crew boat, they have to move from rig to the boat in a basket operated by a crane on the rig.  So they stand on the thing while it swings back and forth over the water and eventually gets set down on the deck of the crew boat - not at all "fun" when there are rough seas making the crew boat rise and fall while the crane operator tries to time the landing to prevent the basket from crashing onto the deck and throwing everyone and their bags everywhere.  Scary!