Rig Living

The lead up to getting on the rig felt like forever; with three delays to departure totalling two weeks emotions where all over the place. I kept feeling really excited to be going to be told that it had been delayed again which deflated me. Finally, the day had arrived, a Sunday, and so I headed to the airport feeling rather blurry from a night out at the casino. Into the departure lounge of Perth’s domestic airport saw yet another delay; the flight was delayed three hours and so I waited once more.

Arriving in Melbourne was weird. I had only stepped out from the airport but I felt like I was in London. The older architecture, the grey skies, cold temperatures...yet I had only heard good things about this place and was determined to spend a little time here on my next couple of rotations. Tonight, however, was simply room service, bath and bed. I had to be awake at 6am to catch the chopper in the morning. It was a shame as the hotel was swanky and it would have been nice to take advantage of the amenities and the fact that all costs were covered by the company.

The helicopter waiting room is a small porter cabin type place with a coffee machine, TV and toilet. Before you embark you and your bag are weighed (your bag has to be less than 10Kg), you undertake an alcohol test and watch a safety video (as if the practise escape routine didn’t prepare you enough for a crash!). You also need to wear survival suits throughout the flight. These are the most strangulating devices! They go on over your clothes and have rubber seals around the wrists and neck (booties sown in like a baby grow). As well as being uncomfortable they are the most unflattering of outfits. However, style can be redeemed when sporting the headset along with aviator glasses. Ding dong!

The helicopter flight took about an hour and the view was clear most of the way. I must confess I had a little doze. On arrival to the rig I was escorted off and reunited with my bag. A short induction and tour was conducted and then I was shown to my work station called a unit. I am currently sharing a cabin with Suzanne (no mixed cabins allowed) which is located outside and so has a panoramic ocean view. It is clean and has all you need: a bed and wardrobe each, a dressing table, TV and an ensuite bathroom which is shared with the room next door (you have to remember to lock and unlock both doors!). The work unit is essentially a metal crate about eight meters long and 3 meters wide. During normal work there will be a maximum of four people in here. Between us we collect rock samples pulled up from the well, build reports of those samples, analyse and account for changes recorded by our sensors (like gas and pressure levels) and ultimately determine hydrocarbon presence (we know it’s there but how much? Is it going to be easy to get out...?). In total there are 100 people on the rig; 97 male and 3 females. There is a nice mixture of people; British, Australian, Indian, Asian and morale is really high. There is a lot of banter and swearing with reminds me of somewhere else I used to work...

The working part of the rig is exactly how you all are imagining it to be. It’s dirty, cluttered and surreptitious in its layout. The living part of the rig is fairly small and boat-like with its steep stairs and cups with plungers on the bottom! However, it is sufficient. There is a small TV room with computers and internet access, phones to make free calls to Australia, a cinema room, a small library, a smoking room, mess hall, coffee shop and gym (which I am yet to visit). The ‘catering’ here so far has been amazing. Yesterday, oysters were on offer for lunch! There is literally food and drink available around the clock as a rig is a 24 hour operation. I am working nights (6am to 6pm) which I opted for as ever since my early working life at Royal Mail I have always been more productive in the evenings.

Before my first shift I was feeling extremely apprehensive. I didn’t even know exactly what my role was; I mean I hadn’t seen a job description! What was I expected to know and do?! This feeling quickly subsided as I spoke to the rest of the team (all of which were highly experienced) who explained the new equipment and software to me, showed me where certain things were and who didn’t laugh at my questions! They were a good bunch and I knew I would get on just fine.