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ORO NEGRO
BLACK GOLD
La version en español:
Parte 1
Parte 2
¿Jamás te has preguntado como sería trabajar en una plataforma de perforación?
En este artículo ROB MacMILLAN da un cuadro vivo de la vida cotidiana en una plataforma del Mar del Norte.
Nivel: Avanzado [y técnico]
1 hora 30 minutos.
GLOSARIO:
Oilfield: yacimiento petrolífero Oil industry: industria petrolera
Oilrig, installation: plataforma de perforación
Offshore: costero
Onshore: sobre la tierra
Topsides: por encima del nivel del agua
Sea state: la condición del mar
Knot (not): nudo (medida de velocidad)
1. When I started working in the North Sea offshore oil industry in 1982, it was an industry that was still in its infancy. I suppose that in many respects it could have been compared to the gold rush in the Klondike in Alaska in 1897-1898 except that the gold that we hoped to recover was of the black liquid variety.
During those heady days money was no object and the oil companies simply threw vast quantities of money at any problem that they encountered.
2. The first platform that I helped to commission had two thousand two hundred people working during the commissioning phase. This was not the number originally envisaged but due to unforeseen technical problems during commissioning many hundreds more were hired to help overcome them. This of course meant that we had two massive accommodation barges alongside for more than a year and life then was extremely hectic.
NEW OIL TECHNOLOGY
A great many of those older design platforms were massive constructions, not out of choice but because in many instances the technology that allowed all of the reservoir fluids to be pumped through the sub-sea pipelines for onshore refining was not available.
3. Nowadays, pipeline metallurgy and onshore processing facilities are such that almost all of the corrosive and toxic gases can be sent onshore for refining rather than having to be dealt with on the platform in what was often extremely expensive and, sometimes, potentially hazardous equipment.
Photo: Bilbao.olx.es
4. So, when I went offshore in 1982 the first platform that I worked on had a topsides weight of almost forty-five thousand tons.
That topsides weight included all of the equipment necessary to safely remove the oil and gas from the reservoir as well as the accommodation module.
The platform had living space for five hundred and fifty people. Even when I left after five years there were still almost five hundred staff living aboard, although the initial commissioning phase had long since passed.
MODERN OIL PLATFORMS SMALLER
5. Platforms tend to be much smaller nowadays, for two reasons. As I mentioned previously, one reason is that great advances have been made in technology and also in the equipment supplier’s experience of which types of equipment are most suitable for the offshore environment.
The other factor is that nowadays most new field discoveries tend to be quite small and this, coupled with better designed equipment, means smaller platforms.
6. Of course, another major determining factor with regard to installation size is the type of reservoir that the fluids are going to be extracted from. There are probably three distinct types of reservoir found in the North Sea and each type will determine in many instances the machinery and vessel design that will have to be incorporated offshore.
7. After the oil price crash of 1986 the oil companies became much more financially aware. Expenditure suddenly became the focus of everyone’s attention and belt-tightening has now become the order of the day.
Even now, during this period of historically high oil prices we are continually reminded of our responsibilities to the shareholders. Sometimes I yearn for those Klondike days!
OIL PLATFORM DESIGN
8. The platform on which I now work has a topsides weight of only eleven thousand tonnes, which is almost exactly 25% of the first platform’s weight. Only twelve years separated those two platforms in design terms, yet technological advances allowed dramatic weight savings to be made.
This installation has living accommodation for one hundred and ten people, which means that we have quite a tight-knit community where everyone knows everyone else.
9. At the moment we have a full complement onboard because we are entering another drilling phase but when that is completed in about twelve months time, the platform numbers will drop down to around fifty people.
The drilling phase we are going through just now is an attempt to encourage more oil from the reservoir by drilling some new wells and also to perform some expensive, but necessary maintenance, on some other operational wells.
10. On a personal level, one of the most potentially hazardous tasks that we have to carry out is actually arrive safely on the installation. Aberdeen, Scotland, is the busiest helicopter terminal in the world and each day there are dozens of flights to all areas of the North Sea.
Nowadays there are around seventy operational installations in the British sector and the majority of those will receive on average, three flights each week.
Photo: robinsonheli.com
The helicopters are uncomfortable and very noisy with no facilities aboard whatsoever. We are lucky that our flight time is only about one hour but there are installations where the flight time can be almost three hours.
HELICOPTER FLIGHTS
11. Over the past thirty years many men have lost their lives due to helicopter crashes but thankfully, and again owing in some part to technological advances in design and safety features, the number of fatalities due to crashes has reduced dramatically. However, you are always grateful when the chopper touches down safely!
12. Life on the platform is in many respects much the same as working in a refinery or other similar type of factory onshore except that you are at sea. It is not like being on a ship because although we are exposed to the elements we are not affected by the sea state. So although we have experienced winds of more than one hundred knots and wave heights of more than twenty-five meters, it does not really affect the operational activities on the installation.
It is exciting to see Mother Nature unleash her full forces but I have personally never felt as if the platform was in danger from the elements.
13. Personal safety is of course an issue in high winds and so nobody can go outside of the living accommodation if the wind speed rises above sixty knots. However, when the platform legs are struck by a twenty-five meter wave everybody aboard is left in no doubt about what has happened, because the structure can move quite dramatically!
Photo: boingboing.net – un directorio de cosas maravillosas
14. We do not have many creature comforts on this installation. Many of the larger platforms have cinemas that seat around one hundred people but we ‘make do’ with a 42” television and a 75% - size snooker table in what is quaintly termed our recreation room! We do have quite a good gymnasium onboard and so this is one area where I spend quite a lot of time trying to keep my weight in check.
WORKING ON AN OIL RIG
15. Two people occupy each cabin but if you work a nightshift, dayshift rota then normally you will have the cabin to yourself. The cabins are quite spartan, a set of bunk beds, a toilet and shower room, a small desk and a portable television with video player in each one. The living quarters can be quite noisy especially during busy periods and so sometimes sleep can be difficult to get!
16. The quality of food offshore tends to vary from platform to platform but I would say that we are quite lucky in that respect because the lady chef that we have on our work rota is extremely good.
17. The working day on the installation is a minimum of twelve hours, which in a fourteen-day period means that I work one hundred and sixty-eight hours. These one hundred and sixty eight hours are equal to four weeks of forty-two hours work in the onshore environment.
My normal leave rota is two weeks offshore followed by two weeks at home. However, after each fourth trip I have six weeks le ave. This means that on average I work twenty-one weeks of the year and it is a truly wonderful job when I’m sitting at home!
18. Normally I am stationed in the Central Control room and from there I can oversee almost all operational activities on the platform. Most days are relatively straightforward because, generally speaking, most of the activities that are carried out on the installation are those of a routine nature.
Photo: terra-air (Santiago, Chile)
By routine I mean in the sense that they are operations that we carry out on a regular basis and with which we are comfortable.
However, we do have times when we have occurrences that are unusual, for example, plant shutdowns caused by equipment failures or human intervention.
OIL PLATFORM SAFETY
19. At other times we may have shutdowns initiated by the Fire & Gas detection system and whether or not they are genuine or spurious this type of shutdown can take us a long time to recover from.
Sometimes, especially during the winter months, we suffer prolonged shutdowns when we have extreme sea states, because water-borne debris is drawn into the main seawater cooling system filters. This ultimately leads to a downstream blockage and a shutdown due to high equipment temperatures inevitably follows.
20. The many hundreds of hours of potential boredom offshore have been alleviated in the pursuit of improving my Spanish. Quite often we have native Spanish speakers on the platform; to date an engineer from Colombia, a steward originally from Peru but now married and living in Scotland, and Manuel, a steward originally from Santander in northern Spain.
He is now a resident of Aberdeen and married to an Aberdonian lady. Various other Spanish speakers have come and gone and I always try to subject them to a little torture by ‘catching’ them and making them listen to me practicing my Spanish!
21. For me, life offshore has never been tedious. I enjoy the working environment and the different challenges that are thrown up periodically. I also enjoy the camaraderie that comes from living in such a close-knit community.
I am well rewarded financially and have plenty of free time to pursue other interests. Having worked in both the onshore and offshore environment I know that I couldn’t return to working onshore.
22. However, when I finally retire from this industry – which will be after my wife and
I have moved to Spain – I would like to become involved in teaching English as a foreign language. Probably not as exciting as working offshore but in some respects much more challenging!
Articulo © 2005-2010 Rob McMillan
QUESTIONS:
1. para 1: What words does the writer use to indicate that the offshore oil business
was just beginning?
2. para 2: Only one of the following statements is TRUE –
a) Two hundred people worked on the site.
b) They didn’t plan to have 2.200 workers.
c) The number of employees was always intended to be 2,200.
d) The oil rig had two hundred helicopters.
3. para 3: What kinds of things are now sent back to land?
4. para 4: How many people lived on the rig at the end of five years?
5. para 5: What is the second reason given for rigs being smaller nowadays?
6. para 6: Only one of the following statements is UNTRUE (FALSE)
a) There are three kinds of reservoir in the North Sea.
b) The type of reservoir determines the size of the installation.
c) Each oil rig sends three people home every week.
d) The type of reservoir will dictate the required machinery and appropriate vessel design.
7. para 7: What did everyone have to concentrate on in 1986?
8. para 8: Only one of the following statements is TRUE –
a) The platform weighed 14,000 tons.
b) At the time of writing, the first rig was 25 years older than the new one.
c) The second oil rig was designed twelve years after the first one.
d) Advanced technology increased the platform’s weight.
9. para 9. How will the number of workers be affected in about a year’s time?
10. para 10. Only one of the following statements is TRUE –
a) Edinburgh is the busiest helicopter airport in the world.
b) There are rather less than thirty oil rigs in the British zone.
c) The helicopter flight to an installation can be dangerous.
d) The helicopters are great fun to ride in.
11. para 11: According to the article, when are you always grateful?
12. para 12: In what way is the oil rig experience NOT like being on a ship?
13. para 13: How do we know that the oil rig is not completely static?
14. para 14. What onboard facility does the author describe as ‘good’?
15. para 15: Please suggest another English word or phrase for ‘spartan’.
16. para 16: How do the meals compare between one rig and another?
17. para 17: How many hours does Rob MacMillan work in a 14-day period?
18. para 18: What can cause a plant shutdown?
19. para 19: What might be drawn into the cooling system filters?
20. para 20: Only one of the following statements is TRUE –
a) Manuel comes from Aberdeen but lives in Santander
b) The engineer mentioned comes from Bolivia.
c) Various Portuguese people reside on the oil rig.
d) The Peruvian steward lives in Scotland.
21. para 21: What kind of work does Rob say he could not do now?
22. para 22: What does Rob plan to do when he retires?
ANSWERS:
1. Infancy
2. b.
3. Corrosive or toxic gases
4. Almost 500
5. New discoveries tend to be small
6. c.
7. expenditure
8. c.
9. Will drop down (reduce) to 50 workers
10. c.
11. When the helicopter (chopper) lands
12. “We are not affected by the sea-state.”
13. The structure can move.”
14. Gymnasium
15. Plain, simple, without luxury
16. The quality varies
17. 168
18. Equipment failure or human intervention
19. Debris (garbage)
20. d.
21. Working onshore (on land)
22. Teach English as a foreign language.
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