Rigging up the Wireline

Rigging up the Wireline

And, I am back, with one hell of an experience. During May-June 2010, or rather ending yesterday, I was a Summer Intern or a Vacation Trainee at the Rajahmundry base of the Wireline segment of Schlumberger.

For the yet to be introduced, Rajahmundry is a place in coastal Andhra Pradesh, India. It is the place, along with Kakinada from where the oilfields of the Krishna-Godavari(KG) basin are operated. ONGC has a base here too.

And, Wireline is basically sending a bundle of sensors, called "Tools", the bundle being called "Tool-String", down an oil-well to find out the parameters of the well.

So, a lot of things happened, which i had never imagined would ever happen in my life. The prime points being working in a shop-floor of one of the most happening industries of the world. Visiting an oil rig, at the mouth of the Godavari, and making a temperature measurement box which is being used for the operations.

To begin with, i'll give you a list of the things which I did in the first 6 days : - Washed a set of oil-covered tools with a big water gun, applied grease on giant screws, cut through 2 inches of wood with a hacksaw, lifted 70kg cylinders, stood 3m from a radioactive source, used an iron spanner on a giant magnetic tool and got it stuck to the tool :D, pushed 150 kg trolleys all around the shop floor, wore 3 layers of clothing + a helmet + woollen gloves + thick safety glasses out in the sun at 45C, Got into a huge Renault truck, scrubbed large cylindrical tools, de-rusted king-sized bolts, helped debug a 12-foot long circuit board.

So, i bet you must have got an idea :)
Anyways, afterwards, this seemed to be totally normal. The most common thing done was connecting tool strings for the engineers to simulate, check and calibrate. It was really awesome to work with such big things.

Fortunately I had the company of one of my friends, and dep-mate, Debotosh. Was great, helping each other at times of need :)

And, a visit to an Oil Rig was simply one great learning experience.
In the wireline segment, the rig operation is basically sending a tool string down to the well. For that, 2 pulleys are attached to the rig. One at the rig-floor and the other at a height of about 300 feet! This is called a Rig-Up. It was just awesome to see the pulley going up and the tools being sent down. And, again observing from the control unit, how the cable-drum was being controlled. :)

During the rig visit, got the chance to ride on the Schlumberger truck, custom-made by Renault. We were probably on one of worst roads of India, deep inside the villages of AP, and it was really smooth. Even the seats had air suspension in them!!
I also saw my first ever HIMYM episode, at the rig, on the engineer's lappy, inside this truck, waiting for a crate of explosives to arrive!

Must say, an experience of a lifetime :)

The next part, was making a project. For certain tools, the engineers have to cool it down with liquid CO2 before sending it down the well. So, my job was to locally make a temperature measurement box. Not the simple circuits we use in labs. But, one rugged, shock-proof, weather-proof, humidity-proof temperature measurement box! Trust me, that was one hell of a job. And, fortunately, i could design and complete it within a period of 4 weeks!

Apart from all that, made a lot of friends. Met people from across the world!

In fact, to list out the nationalities I met :- Lebanese, Iraqi, Jordanian, Egyptian, Japanese, American, Mexican, Indonesian and of course Indian :P.