Drilling

[j.sabourn]

Thanks JG you have clarified quiet a bit in my mind , is hard to talk about somethings to others if you don’t really know yourself. . As they would say in Liverpool Ta La. JS

[j.sabourn]

#9. The same with the mud Bill the tanks had to be agitated at frequent periods to keep it pumpable. It was even backloaded as dirty mud to take back shoreside to be cleaned for further use. I was told cubic by cubic it was well above the price paid for petrol for your car at the bowser, if you had one. The mud tanks had to be spotless on loading mud , and used to be cleaned out after every load by specialised tank cleaners . We offered to do it for half the price as was only wiping the tank sides with rags. SML thought about it and turned it down, saying it would only cause a precedent. Think it cost 3000 pounds each tank clean we offered to do it for 1500 pounds. Must have thought they would have trouble getting us out of the Tory bar come sailing time. Cheers JS.

[Christopher Miles]

Hi, what you say is basically how it is!

I was in the MN for a few years (Denholm Ship Management) before slipping into the Offshore Industry. I worked on the Deepwater Horizon incident back in 2010, amongst dozens of others in then past couple of decades. It's an amazing Industry, and as with shipping you meet and work alongside amazing people. Usually!

I often wonder where I would be now had I stayed on the ships. Life on board must have change much since the 80s? My apprenticeship spent island hopping in the Caribbean on a general cargo vessel with T & J Harrison. Another World.

[Charles EF Stuart]

As in J Gowers but also carried Brine 95. Generally Bentonite was the lubricant but if the pressure got high then Bayrytes used. If the pressure was really high Brine 95% was added as the liquid too make the Bayrites even heavier. On the Brent field once discharged 300 tones of a 500 tone parcel of Brine and the rest was slopping about in the tanks so we asked the rig to take the rest. They said ballast on top, so we did. Two days later they asked for the rest! Fortunately there was a German boat who had recorded the VHF instruction so we were not liable. Apparently Brine was very expensive!