Once in the crew truck (5:30am), we finish picking up the rest of the crew (4-6 guys) and head out to the jobsite (1-2 hour drive away). Depending on the crew there can be varying kinds of conversation, smoking, and snoring. Typically there is little conversation so early in the morning, so I listen to an MP3 player with some great Bible teaching and worship songs. Technology is so amazing! It allows me to feed and mediate on the Livng Word of God for almost 2 hours before I start working! Right now I am going through the book of Revelation, where the disciple John is writing about the things he saw in his vision on the island of Patmos while he was taken up to heaven, the things that are in the church, and the things will come in the Last Days (Rev 1:19).At the jobsite, we roll out of the rig. Right now and for all this winter, the sun is not up when we get there and it is a bit chilly. We hook power up to the mobile crew house and get prepared inside. The crew house is where we change into our clothes for the day of work. Right now I am showing an arrangement of 2-3 pairs of socks, long underwear top and bottom, a t-shirt, sweater, jacket, pants, and a coverall uniform over all of that with a bakclava on the head, green hard hat (the sign of a new hire, after 6 months you get a white hard hat) with an insulated hoody, 2 pairs of gloves, steel toed boots, safety glassed, and ear plugs. Everything on the outer layer gets dirty, grungy, and wet. The gloves usually get replaced 2-3 times a day.
Also in the crew house. We have a meeting of what we are doing today and how to be safe. Eveyone gets on the same page and understands what is needed to be done. The typical job takes about 1-2 weeks and consists of setting up the rig, taking the top of the well head off, pulling pipe out of the hole (typically 8,000 feet of pipe with each pipe (called tubing) about 30 feet) , attaching a new plug of some sort, putting the same or different tubing back into the drilled hole, and then putting the well head back on. There are some other contractors that come in to test the integrity of the hole, tubing, or other stuff down the hole during this process. If the hole was flowing with oil before, the way we stop the oil from flowing up is to pump a lot of heavy water (usually salt water) down the hole which pushes the oil down for some time and back into its rock formation. Now back to the crew house, depending on the crew the sharing of safety is not always taken seriously or given much time, which of coarse brings about the creation of more safety rules and regulations. Everyone has a different level or degree of safety out in the field, but for the most part (like in many other industries) the safety rules are seen in a negative light. I supppose this is the typical management vs. the managed obstacle. With that said, one better stay alert and use their head and not just do whatever they are asked to do. Which thankfully is what managment constintly repeats as a responsiblity of everyone on the jobsite.
SO now the big rig is started and warmed up and we go to work putting tubing(pipe) in the hole or taking it out of the hole (7:30-8am). The machinery is loud so there is not much talking, the equipment is big, and the weight that the pulley system on the rig can be holding (which is the string of tubing in the hole) can be from 3,000 -185,000 lbs. The RIG OPERATER stands in one place most of the day, controlling the tubing being picked up or taken out, he is monitoring the speed going into the hole, the wieght off the string, and the safety of those working on the floor. He is usually the most experienced. The DERRICK HAND is the guy half way up the 104 foot telescoped tower standing on a platform standing 2 lengths of tubing connected together back on a stand, temporarily stored away to later put right back into the hole. The FLOOR HAND is right at the opening of the hole making/disconnecting the tubing as it goes in or comes out. The TOOL PUSHER is a guy that is above the operater and makes sure the crew has all the tools they need to get the job done. He usually comes out sometime during the day and watches the crew to help supervise and make sure things are being done correctly and safe. Then there is the COMPANY MAN who works for a different company then the work-over crew, he is like the wedding coordinator that makes sure everything on the jobsite is being done according to plan, materials are there, jobsite is safe, schedules are being met, and all the important day to day information gets to the oil company (usually in Texas).
Closing up for the day is usually around 5-9pm, depending on the communication between the operater and the company man. Which means with the drive we get home around 7-10pm. Since the company man is the boss who subcontracted the workover crew, the operator usually just does whatever the company man wants. This can be a problem at times because the operator is also to look out for the safety and welfare of his crew and make sure that his company policies are followed and if there is a conflict with these he is to stand up and say something. If the operator does nothing, then the crew members have the responsibility to say something, but this is an even more difficult task coming from a person who typically has less authority and responibility.
More for later...
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