I haven't been here in a while because I was working days. My company was supposedly going to start production, but that's off. My job over the last week was to haul solidified chunks of rotarty mud out of the cellar (16 steps), I've got weak knees and multiple trips up and down these stairs are wearing. By the time I get on-line and visit my regular sites, I'm just to burned out to care about posting.
I've written before that the production site I work at has been down for quit a while now. We have gotten the okay to start up the site again, with some limits, once we get an injection well operating. I've still got all my vacation time and was told to use some of it before we started up, so I put in for weeks worth.
Turns out the time I put in for coincided with the go ahead date given us by the State. My vacation was cancelled, and due to not getting the work done on the well that we need to inject our production water, we haven't started up either. Now I can't take vacation because the foreman is taking his vacation, and probably won't be able to take mine because when he gets back, we are into the holiday season and off time is restricted.
On top of this, last night, when I got to work I was informed that I was to go to our other site (23ed) and work there. I was originally hired to operate that site and worked there for about four months, but because of some politics, I got sent to the site I work now (Broadway). I didn't really care outside of the first site had just been gone through and had all updated equipment and the site I ended up at had by-passed just about every piece of automated equipment.
In the three years since I last worked at 23ed, the guys working there have abused all the equipment and the place is a mess. Equipment is bypassed, tanks have been run over (and were running over when I showed up last night) and equipment and procedures have been changed.
At 9:30 PM, I'm getting a tour and rundown on what has to be done. It's dark and not incredibly well lit, so I'm trying to figure out how everything ties together without being able to trace the piping from one vessel to another. On top of this I'm being told that some alarms may go off, but if it's this or that, don't worry, it isn't important.
I'll be honest and state that retirement is my goal. I love to work, but I would rather do it on my schedule, what I want done, when I want to do it. On my last job, I didn't mind the 12 to 16 hour days, because I thought the owners were serious about trying to keep the company going, turns out I was wrong, but I loved the job and I was willing to put in the effort.
The company I work for now seems to have no plan. Work on a well, hit a problem, stop and go to another well, hit a problem, repeat. Nothing gets fixed and no long range planning. We've had 8 months to fix (from what I'm learning now) anywhere from 5 to 18 years of neglect, I don't expect it all to be done right now, but the owner seems to be thrashing about trying to find the easiest way to get back to production, and it ain't working. We are no closer to starting up now than we were five months ago.
I'm pissed and I'm tired. Usually going to a new site would invigorate me with a challege, but this time I'm just fed up.
2 comments:
Must be a 'poor boy' independent operation..I used to work for some when I was a kid back in the fities that owned drilling rigs. Dangerous places to work because they refused to keep the equipment in good shape and of course back then drilling was contracted by the foot so it was balls to the wall 24 hyours a day until the hole was put down to the contracted depth. The gotdam drillers would get every last turn out of the bit hoping they didn't lose a cone and then when it was coming out of the whole they didn't want to take the time to let the mud drain out of the drill pipe so it was pulling a muddy string every time..the mud bucket would get a workout. It got to the point that if I couldn't hire out as a derrick man I wouldn't hire out..the derrick was the safest place on the damn rigs.
No excuse for running over tanks..just shows that their is a lazy ass pumper on the job or else the pumpers don't know how to open a plug vale to switch tanks. This is the kind of stuff that gave us oilfield hands a bad rep.."don't tell my Momma I'm a roughneck..she thinks I am a bouncer in a whorehouse."
Yep, sounds like old times. I was derrick man in a bullshit crew for CONOCO in Seal Beach for 5 years. Hired away from Texaco as a roustabout directly to the production crew. Seems the head well puller had a bad habit of running into the crown while trying to get the elevators by the derrick man on the way back into the hole so none of the other well pullers would work derrick for him. I got laid off for political activity and finished college operating a string of wells for independent producers. Fond memories. Good luck. I don't miss the wet jobs.
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