21 Days North of the Arctic Circle

[Lyndon]

CERTIFICATION TO OPERATE A SNOW CAT Esentially a "Snow-Cat" operators license. This is one of 2 that they carry.

 

[pixie]

I'm looking forward to hearing what's happening with the Doyan 14 ! It must be a real headache to have the road blocked !!!

 

[Lyndon]

Day 17. it's a blustery -18, but the wind chill is still keeping it at -36 and that wind can really bite! I'm "Gettin-Short" military slang used on the slope to denote that one is close to going home. Doyan 14 is fixed and off the Kuparuk river bridge and a few miles further up the road. Now there are several alternate routes around the rig. But this rig and one other have now been stopped cold by a sow Polar Bear and 2 cubs. Until the sow and her cubs move on, the Ice Road is permanently closed. 8 AM. More as it get's light out.

 

[Lyndon]

CORRECTION The original name of this thread was going to be: 21 Days,300 MILES,North of the Arctic Circle. But it was too long. But there IS a bit of a difference!

 

[Lyndon]

This is one of my projects. It's called the "ECM Mod", or Electrical Control Module. 13,800 volt will come in to it and be transformed down to 480 Volt and distributed to all the places around this pad.

 

[Lyndon]

Here's the Inside:

 

[Lyndon]

Here's a close up of one of several 2000Amp Frame Circuit Breakers.

 

[Lyndon]

Over on another one of our Pads, the Nabors drill Rig is just "De-Mobing". Short for De-Mobilizing, it has completed it's task and will head to another well. The Mast in in the 'Laid-down' ready for travel position. As soon as it leaves my guy's will go to work reconnecting the well.

 

[Lyndon]

This is a TEST SEPERATOR. It houses a little lab for testing oil samples, and some chemicals to inhibit corrosion on the pipe system. It has the dreaded "UV's" or Ultra Violet detectors and is completely off limits for picture taking. One of these UV sensors, that look like a small TV Camera, can see a spark 'around a corner'! Not really, but they can pick up the reflection of a spark or the flash of a camera. This doesn't just make some alarm bell sound. The UV detector "talks" to a PLC. The Programmable Logic Controller(PLC) is a computer of sorts. It starts shutting down wells ( a source of fuel), shutting down pumps, closing Valves and initiates the Fire Supression system, all automatically and FAST! It also notify's the Fire Department and other Emergency Response Teams and they ROLL! There was one of these 'Test Seperator's' next to where my electricians are changing out a big Transformer outside, so sorry, NO Pic's of that work today.

 

[Lyndon]

ARCTIC CHALLENGE I have this friend back east named John. He won this violin off some "bad-ass" dude in some type of competition. It's REAL Gold!, Not solid, just "Leaf". He says: "Hey Lyndon, you work up on the slope with a bunch of Texans don't you. ( About one in five North Slope Oil workers is a Texan). If you should ever run into a guy named Charlie Daniels why don't you give this to him. He earned it, and I don't play it very much anymore. Now I Snow Board and play my guitar" And let me tell you John is good at both, Snowboarding and Guitar!
Anyway here's the challenge: You Researchers on the South Pole at McMurdo and Scott Base, You Canadian Ice Road Truckers, and You US Armed Forces Cold Weather Unit dudes: Come on up to Milne Point. We'll play a little ARCTIC VOLLEY BALL, or how about an ARCTIC BASKET BALL Match
If I was a "Bett'n Man" I'd be putting my money on the Milne Team. Our Insulators, Scaffold builders, Tin Knockers, Mechanic's, Welders, Electricians, Carpenters, Surveyors.... are up to the challenge. Those Surveyours on that thread about:" 500$ @ hour job, must be fast on your feet", that are playing tag with a Real, Live, Polar Bear, those are OUR Surveyor's! Come on up, we'll take your money!

 

[Lyndon]

Here's the Transformer Swap. The pad Operator said I could go ahead and take pictures even though it's right next to the dreaded "Test Seperator Mod" with it's sensitive UV's. I escorted the crane the 7 miles over to the location.

 

[Lyndon]

The New transformer.

 

[Lyndon]

Pulling out the old one:

 

[Lyndon]

Installing the New Replacement Transformer.

 

[cabinboy]

Hey ,Lyndon I am still digging this stuff keep it coming . You folks sure do have to put up with some very tough conditions .That new 480 v switch gear sure is sweet looking equipment. Thanks again for all of the pictures and info.

 

[Lyndon]

RED

Thanks for the words of encouragement. Really like your LOGO!
It's -1, no wind, and has been snowing hard for quite awhile. Not much for picture taking oppertunities today. That and I've been quite busy. Always seems to happen right at the end of my "hitch". Day18.
Saint Peter is showing this Texan around Heaven. He shows him this beautiful garden, and the Texan say's "Oh, we got something like that in Texas called the Pertinellies", St. Peter shows him a beartiful Mountain Brook, the Texan: " Oh, we got something like that in Texas called..." , He shows him some beautiful canyon, again the Texan" We got something like that in Texas". At this point Saint Peter is getting a little 'Put-off' by the Texan so he takes hime over to the edge of an Abyss, below which are the Fires of Hell. The Texan goes "Whoa!", thinks for a second, then says " We got an old boy that can put that out for you!"
This is off the back cover of Red Adair's Biography called Hell Fighters.

 

[Lyndon]

I never red Hell Fighters until recently, never saw the movie with John Wayne, but somewhere around my first year of High School, one of my closest friends did and he gave me a sort of play by play recap of it. that would be 1968. In 1977 I was an Electrican in Houston Texas working for Berger Electric. We mostlly built Grocery Stores. It was one of the bigger, more successful electrical contractors in Houston employing 40 to 60 electricians. One day Me and the shops troubleshooter, Roy, get sent out to do a service call. The instructions on a work order said : Room 301, Adair Properties, and gave a Katy Freeway address, See Dwane. Adair Properties is the biggest Realtor in Houston at the time. We showed up at about 7:30 AM. When we got to the 3rd floor, room 301 was around the corner from the elevator and had a solid glass door made of one piece of inch thick glass. On this door it said RM 301, had a big Red Star and said Red Adair. I didn't think anything of it. We go in the office entry and no one is there, but it's open. On the walls are beautifull, Oil on Canvas paintings of Oil Well fires. I still havn't figgured it out! Then is see a magazine with an article about Hell Fighters with John Waynes picture on the cover! Finally the light goes on! Hey, this is that guy that David told me about in High School!

 

[Lyndon]

So a few minutes later in he comes. Says Dwayne, won't be in for about half an hour, so come on into my office and have some coffey he just brewed up!
It was quite some years later that it dawned on me that I had actually met a "Living Legend in the Oil Industry".
Red Adair invented a wide range of specialty oil tooling and Safety devices that have saved countless oil workers lives.
When a well stops producing you try all sorts of stuff to try to coax it back into service. One of the techniques is called "Fracking" which is slang for "Fracturing". In early oil development times they used to drop Nitro Glycerin down the well. this would crack up the rock formation and improve flow. This also killed lots of people. HIgh pressure gasses and liquids are also forced down a well to improve flow. A "Wire-Line" crew does this kind of work. Red Adair did this for a living part of his life. This is a WIRE LINE unit working. With the newer technology they also LOOK down the well with camers that get dropped in by the Wire Line unit.

 

[Lyndon]

Our tour has been mostly limited to Milne Point. Milne only accounts for about 1/25 of the Prudhoe Bay Oilfield. We are actually one of the smaller players. But the other opertions are very similar. Three in particular are much larger. Every site has Wells, and every site has a processor. We don't actually refine oil here. Oil, from every oilfield in the world comes out of the ground with some sand, water and usually some Natural Gas mixed in. The Processor seperates Sand, Water, and Gas out and they get reinjected back into the formation. The oil goes on to Pump One of the Trans Alaska Pipeline. This sculpture sit's near the "Discovery Well", the first successful oil well drilled here.

 

[Lyndon]

Arco calls their processing facilities in the EOA Flow Stations. It has 3.

Flow Station One.

 

[Lyndon]

BP, in the WOA (EOA=Eastern Operting Area, WOA = Western Operating Area) calls their processors Gathering Centers and they also have 3. They are massive, complicated facilities.
This is GC1.

 

[Lyndon]

Kuparuk, operated by PhillipsConoco, calls their processors CPF 1,2,&3. CPF stands for Central Processing Facilities. This is Kuparuk's headquarters, main camp, and CPF1.

 

[Lyndon]

The EOA,WOA,Kuparuk,Endicott, North Star Island, Lisbourns, Point Mac, Milne, Badami, and Alpine oil sites collectively make up the Prudhoe Bay oilfield. It is the largest Oilfield in North America, larger than Rhode Island.
For the first 7 or 8 years it produced some 2.7 Million BBl's of oil a day, and supplied almost a quarter of the US demand. Now the field is in decline and only generates about 1 Million Bbls a day. With the Increase in population and subsequent increase in demand the Alaska Oil Fields only supply one 30th of the US's current demand. 3 New sites are currently being developed, TARN, Meltwater, and Liberty. This is an exploritory rig at Tarn a few years back.

Alaska currently supplies all the Oil to Hawaii, Alaska,Washington State, and Oregon with some smaller amounts going to parts of Montana, Idahoe, and California.

 

[Lyndon]

My "Hitch" is almost over. Usually I get called out to one of the other sites, specifically Endicott, or North Star Island at least once during my hitch. I guess those pictures will have to wait for another day. When inspecting at these sites I have to Drive almost the length of Prudhoe, some 60 miles and have oppertunities to take more pictures. Maybe next hitch. The weather conditions are setting themselves up for a 'Blow'. It's could end up stranding me here for an extra day or 2, but that's normal for 300 Miles North of the Arctic Circle.

 

[Lyndon]

There are (5) major facilities I failed to mention: There is a Central Compressor Plant(CCP) that compresses Natural Gas, and a massive plant that 'Cleans' the Gas, call CGF. They sit near each other and have rows of massive Turbines. Each machine is about 50,000 HP. There are 10 or 11 at each facility.
There is a Power House on the WOA, that generates power for that area. I couldn't get a picture of it, but is is the largest power house in the state of alaska, and generates about 200 MW.

 

[Lyndon]

There are also (2) STP's. Sea Water Treatment plants. They take Sea water and Desalinate it as well as getting any algea out. They are esentially huge distillation units. both have their own camps and sit right on the ocean so they get regular visits by polar bears.

 

[pixie]

Thanks for telling about what happens as far as 'processing' !

How far away is the water from the desalination plants piped around the area ?

 

[Lyndon]

The water get's piped to almost every drill site. There it is injected at very high pressure into the formation. Oil floats on water, so the water is injected below the oil. This serves several functions as follows. Primarily it keeps the pressure up which pushes the oil to the surface. It also serves to keep the formation from becoming a hollow cave that might collapse. It can aid in drawing out heavier greese like oils that are hard to extract by loosening them up and making them less viscous.

 

[Lyndon]

It's Day 19. Windy, -6, -26 with the windchill. It's blowing enough that it feels pretty cold even though -6 is considered a 'heatwave' here at this time of year. The Pipeline is going full blast.

Above crews drilling the holes for the VSM's.


Here they are setting one in place. they use the busses as mobile break shacks and warming hut's. One is trailering a 'porta-potty'.

 

[Lyndon]

Tomorrow's my last 'workday' and I may be too busy to post or answer questions. Here's some more of the Pipeline construction. It will be almost completed when I return.

Leveling up VSM's.

Surveyors up here seem to get the most "outside exposure" of any of the trades.