Author: Becky

A week in North Dakota can be exciting and boring all at the same time. After being off for months it was trilling to be back at work.  Most of the time the rigs we work on are located in strange place that are hard to find, far from civilization, and normally with very little cell service. But every once in a while we get to work in a location that has it all. Cell service. A view. No mud puddles. What could be better?!

Every once in while North Dakota delivers. The sunsets this week have been particularly spectacular. The job remains the same. The rig drills and we geosteer.  As exciting as our job is somedays it is rather quite dull. This is probably for the best not only does it give us time to look up things like artic bees but if thinks were not dull the chance of fire goes up.  It is reassuring to know that after being off for months I do in fact remember how to do my job.

Sadly nothing last forever and now I have to brave the las hurrah of winter and drive thru a blizzard to Wyoming for my next assignment.

But now it is spring. And I am back at work. At least for now. There is nothing like mud season. One day it’s lovely and 65 and then the next its blizzarding and 10 below. Somehow and some where in-between there is a lot of mud. The lines get stuck in it and freeze the boot sink in it the trucks get stuck it gets all over everything! Yay mud season! This can stretch from Texas to Alaska. It’s all about timing. Last month it was Wyoming this month it’s north Dakota. The trailer I’m sitting in right now is slowly sinking in to the mud unevenly. Even the chairs are staring to slide of their own free will.

But after the blizzards and the wind to dry out the mud there are just a few days of almost perfect. The sun is out, the wind is pleasant, the ground firm. The sunsets are colorful hardly a cloud in the sky. If you breathe deep you can feel spring in your bones! That is what we have today.

It’s been months since I have made a post. This is partly because I have been moving around a lot and partly because I feel like i have nothing to say. The work continues. This project finishes a new one starts. The holidays come and go. But today deserves a post all its own.

75 years ago today (January 22, 1944) the Americans landed in Anzio, Italy. The landed took the Germans by surprise and made good progress in the first few hours. But things quickly turned badly and the allies were stalled for months. Every inch of the landing area was reachable by the German guns. The battle raged until May. Eventually the Allies did brake out and succeeded in liberating Rome. The German army however was able to make a orderly retreat and lived to fight another day. 

Today I visited the now picture perfect seaside town of Anzio. A quick stop in the history museum in city hall basement where they were playing a black and white film of footage from the battle mixed with interviews of vets 10 years after. One of the vets was talking about how was it wasn’t worth it. The interviewer asked what he meant. “Well it was all terribly important at the time to somebody. But now it looks just like any other beach side town. Here or in England.” And in many ways he is right. The collection was bigger than the space and many things were squished in so tight they where have to see. After that I made my way down towards the beach. As I was approaching the harbor I started to fallow the crowd that was gathering for the wreath laying ceremony. They had the Italian army band, a group from the navy, Carabinieri , and flag waving school children. The school choir sang a few songs no one could hear because their background music was too loud. Several speeches where made. (One by a admiral who was whisked away by his bodyguards as soon as he was done.) The bugler played taps and the children waved their flags. The most interesting thing was not the 45 Brits that came and got an honorable mention but rather the fact that the children were given not only Italian, British, and American flags but also German flags too. For a town that doesn’t forget his history they seem to have forgotten who lost.

After a few kilometers walk I arrived at the American cemetery.  I had missed the wreath laying ceremony there but a group of four Americans were reading the names of the fallen. A different group was working it’s way around the cemetery making sure every single grave had a candle and that the candle was still lit. (It was a windy day). There was more scheduled for latter in the evening but it was time for me to go home. A hour by train to Rome. A journey that took the Americans 5 months to do in 1944. 

Just when there is a plan it all jumps in a hand basket and runs.  It is now mid-September there is a chill in the air that is refreshing and makes you think of fires and warm cooking. Instead of working near town in North Dakota and watching the trees turn and preparing for   -45 weather, I find myself in Montana. No the trees and mountains Montana but the brown hills, Grose, and windmills part of Montana. As far East as you can go in Montana.  Where the wind can blow you away if you’re not careful.

Not sure I use Montana enough but you get the idea I’m out of North Dakota. Yippee! Any time I get to get out of North Dakota even for a little while is a good time. All though the only difference between this place and North Dakota is the line on the map, we will take it! It’s refreshing to be on a new project especially one where they are not worries about setting new records. A lot of rigs today and companies are all about how fast we can get it done. This project realizes that to make money you have to spend money and they are spending on quality equipment and quality personnel and they want it done right even if it takes that much longer. Time is not the problem. And that is just fantastic! (what a pleasure to work for that mindset)

 

Seeing as I have a moment I want to explain a bit about how the oil gets out of the ground. There are two types of oil extraction: the conventional and the unconventional.  These days the unconventional is actually the more common at least in this part of the world. It’s the type that people have heard about in the news. To get the oil out of ground a hole is drilled horizontally and then the formation is pumped full of water and sand. The water to separate the grains in the rock and the sand to hold them open so the oil can flow out.  In short fracking. This is the extraction method that gets a lot of negative press. Most of it is not accurate but that’s for another time.  The second type the traditional way as it were is a little more involved. With fracking you can afford to be a little less precise with where you put the wells because as we say it all fracks. You can run wells very close and very vertical as if the army engineers had laid out a grid. With the conventional you have to go where the oil is.  To get the oil you have to strategically place the wells because the oil is trapped between water and a hard rock usually on an anticline or syncline.  This is the way they use to get oil out of the ground everywhere. They still do this type of drilling in places like Saudi Arabia and parts of Texas and in the gulf.  Depending on the pressures in the reservoir, sometimes the oil is in such a hurry to get out that it’s not necessary to pump it and it’s just more of a collection process.  When the reservoir is over pressured like this to keep the oil flowing an injection well is drilled to a depth below the oil and water in injected in the system.  These are the things the petroleum engineers think about and work on. Luckily for me I don’t have to worry about most of that. But when we do it makes for far more interesting geology.

 

How did I get the lucky straw to get this assignment you ask? Well! I got lucky straw because the new rig I was supposed to be starting up got delayed. Like a lot delayed but that’s okay because now I am here doing something I have never done before. They also send me here because I have to act as a mentor and teacher for a new hand.  So far we have covered how to do a lot of the paperwork and the proper way to cut the sample to see if there is oil in them. (Hint there is oil!) Tomorrow we will cover more paperwork and what to get at Walmart. When we are this far from a big town you have to plan strategically what to get.  Paper towels and toilet paper are always on the list.

I am working with and mentoring this very innocent 22 year old who has just started in the oil field.  I’m trying to give her all the advice I wish I had when I was that fresh in the oil field. I’m not sure all of it is sticking, some is defiantly going in one ear and out the other. She is so funny and spunky, and at the very same time she is just so dumb!

 

The boys have started referring to me as a Rig Mom. A tittle I am perfectly okay with. I cooked French toast for them once and they all think I’m all right. But everyone has realized I have taken our young senorita under my wing.  While working nights we have covered a huge range of advice. Take your Vitamin D, wear layers and insolated boots, it gets cold out here, good quality wool socks are your friend, show up to shift on time, and ask lots of questions. That’s the general advice not to mention the rig specific advice. We covered how to store food to keep away from mice, we covered what to do when there is a mouse in the trailer, we covered how to set a mouse trap, and what to do when the mouse trap works…. Did I mention we had mice? It is winter and they try to come snuggle in our shakes but the war is fast and swift with annihilation for them and victory for us.

 

It’s nice to pass on all the knowledge I have learned over the last 6 years. Everything from how to clean the gross mud off your clothes, to what to get from town, and what to never skimp on. (Hint: you can skimp on a lot of things but never skimp on toilet paper and Dawn dish soap). Probably the most useful piece of advice I have given her so far is don’t sleep with anyone on the rig. The weather is defiantly changed out here we have had our first snowfall of the year already with more on the way. So most of my advice is weather related and I’ve been handing it out to not only her but my coworker who is looking at his first winter in the oil field.  It’s not yet cold enough to plug in the car but the time is coming soon.

 

I have been thinking about age a lot these days. After I realized that my 30^th birthday is only a few months away.  I don’t feel like I could be approaching 30 I feel like I just started this job yesterday and it’s still new. But working with this young kid throws in to sharp relief just how many winters I have been doing this. I have more stories to tell all the time. This far north it’s all about how many winters you survive. Snow storms, ice storms, blizzards, how many times you get snowed in on the rig. These are how we count the winters.  I look how my life could have been very different if I had not taken this job. I see friends who are having their second kid because they want to.  At the end of the day the roads not taken don’t matter because this is the life I have and I wouldn’t change it for all the fish in the sea.

 

 

In Italy the Italians take a 2 week vacation on August. The whole country shuts down for what feels like a month. Everyone goes to the beach or the mountains or anywhere but where they spent the rest of the year. They call it Ferragosto. In the spirit of that I have taken August off from writing. August for me was busy and fantastic!

The first half of August was spent riding a bike around Norway. It was a fantastic experience and can’t wait to do it again! The country side was just fantastic. Everywhere you look there was new vistas and views of great geology landscape. I’m sure I didn’t take enough pictures but the ones I did take could teach a 101 lecture tomorrow. It was great! After being trapped in the middle of the continent for far too long it was great to spend 3 whole weeks along the coast. The islands where beautiful, the sun never set, and most of the people where very nice and friendly. It the country wasn’t so expensive I would gladly go back in a heartbeat! We had a fantastic adventure that climaxed with climbing the huge hill to the Nordcap. The most Northern point in Europe one can reach on 2 or 4 wheels. The weather was nothing but a cloud that day which is for the best or wise we would not have come home! I can honestly say adventuring in a new way with bicycles was a huge hit. We loved it and plan on doing it again and again for many years to come!

The pictures don’t come close to doing it justice.

Sadly with all great adventures they must come to an end. So it was back to the grindstone and back to the rig. But of course it’s never just that simple. Work has its own adventures too. The most resent one is of a pure geologic type. The area we are drilling in has very steep structure. That means the zone we want to stay in changes in depth quite drastically. Instead of our normal changes of like 2-5’ this well changed 40’ over the course of two miles. It makes for far more exciting and busy work!

So there we have it the real world was shut out for a while but it comes screaming back in with full force.

There has been a lot of talk on lately about how plastic straws should be banned and how the oil industry is this big terrible monster.  As we are wrapping up a very stressful three mile lateral (that means we drilled 2 miles down and 3 miles out) I just want to take a second and show a more complete picture of the oil industry.  After all, this blog is Oil Keeps the Lights on. It’s not just a cute title meaning I pay my electric bill with the money I make at my oil job. No, oil keeps the lights on in so many other ways. It’s not just the trucks and cars that depend on oil and gas. Every aspect of our lives are affected by oil, from the fresh avocados and bananas we love so much, to the clothes we wear. And don’t forget the coffee beans and cocoa we can’t live without. Not to mention the electronics we use every day.

“Oh but oil is bad. Look at all the disasters.”  Yes the industry has had some bad accidents, but so has every industry. Oil disasters make big headlines because they are usually pretty bad. (Piper Alpha, Macondo, Lac-Mégantic) Other industries have big problems too, look at all the coal disasters or the number of shipwrecks. “Oil destroys the environment.”  I have worked in a National Park and a working National Forest and I am all in favor of preserving and protecting the wild. But oil doesn’t damage the wilderness nearly as bad as the open pit mining needed to make the batteries in that cellphone of yours, or the irreversible consequences of hunting whales to extinction.  (Star Trek IV, was on last night. Save the whales!)

Not only does the oil we produce improve every aspect of modern human life, but the technologies we use out here have untold applications. Computers have changed the world and they are still changing our industry. Thirty five  years ago this industry was very different with the primary need being strong disposable manpower. If you talk to the old timers they will point with their stub of a finger and say “Back in my day…”. Those are the lucky ones who lived. Safety has come a long way and I for one am glad.  Today we use computers for everything. There is even talk of an all computer rig that doesn’t need any people on location to run it. If or rather when that rig proves to be a viable option this industry will have totally different kind of boom. The technology we use to drill laterally could be used someday to repair lines and pipes under roads. Wouldn’t that be nice to not have road construction anymore?  It could also be used to drill water wells in places where water is hard to find, or  even space drilling.  The possibilities are out there! We don’t know yet what new innovation will change our industry or how our industry will change the world again.

Oil in North America or really around the world makes millions for the higher ups every year but it also gives people jobs. Right now, in North Dakota (a place with little going for it) there is a manpower shortage. It’s not just the roughnecks on the rigs, it’s also the truck drivers, welders, pipe fitters, the crane operators, road construction workers, construction workers, and Walmart workers. If you have the drive and the need, then there are jobs to be had here and other places. Not all the jobs are glamorous or impressive, but they are gateway to a better one. Those jobs don’t just help the big bosses, they help the little guys too. Being able to provide for your family is no small feat and it can be done with pride in this industry. It is not just the land owners who benefit from an oil well on their land but so does the local economy.

And for those of you who say we shouldn’t build a pipeline across native lands here is a picture of all the pipe lines already in existence in North America (just a hint all 50 states have at least one pipeline).  The pipelines are already there.  to prevent a disaster you want people working on them repairing, maintaining and improving them.

Every aspect of our lives has oil products. From our food wrappers and the way our food gets to us, to the clothes we wear and the toys we play with.  I am reminded of the people I meet who say I should give up oil. To truly give up oil a person would have to move to the middle of nowhere Canada grow everything they eat themselves, make their own clothes, and live in the dark as soon as the sun sets. Someday the world may be ready to have no disposable, one-time use items but until we are all ready to the return of the stone age, with all its bad health, medicine, transportation, and lighting,  oil will be a thing.

Life on a rig can present some interesting challenges. Sometimes it’s the long hours sometimes it’s the people. The weather always makes life interesting. But one of the hardest things to do is find a way to stay fit on the rig. Some rigs have a small weight room but most don’t.  Some people are gym rats and drive 45 minutes one way every day to go to the gym. Personally I never understood wasting that much time and gas when there is a perfectly good road right outside. Now my walks are by no means a perfect solution. Cold and rain and snow have kept me inside more than once. The rain I don’t mind but the mud is a problem. When your feet weigh 20 pounds each because of the mud no one wants to be out in that.

Somedays staying fit on the rig involves hiking like the other day when the night MWD and I went for a 5 mile hike thru tick infested trials. Somedays it’s up and down the hills on the roads.

But today I’m happy to introduce my newest workout partner. The kick stand 3000! Turns a regular bike into an indoor bike! And after the rain storm we had last night I’m very glad I have it. So far it gets a 10 out of 10! It’s a little noisy but with a good audio book its better than sitting around watching tv. The pest part is it helps me train for the next bike trip to Norway!

I was counting up the years yesterday and remembering the most memorable 4^th of Julys I’ve had to date. Growing up the 4^th meant trips to the beach with fires on the sand and fireworks over the water. The beach would look like a landing zone with fires and fireworks up and down the place. Truly an impressive sight.  Since I have been old enough to pay for my own fireworks a little of the fun as gone out of the holiday.

Of the last 6 years of working in the oil field I have been home for exactly one 4^th of July. That was the first year I was married and was on my honeymoon. The next year I was in Anthony Kansas.  Anthony Kansas is a very small town with very little going for it. It does have a bar. In this bar is a wood bar top that has a bunch of deep groves and chunks missing. The legion goes that Carry A. Nation rode into town with her horse and buggy and started smashing up the bar with her hatchet! Right there in small town Kansas.  That fourth we celebrated by blowing up a few fireworks down the dirt road from the rig and BBQed stakes.

The next year I was in Houston for training. Houston was so hot and dry that there were no fireworks to be had. We had an ‘Merica pool party complete with lots of snacks, sunhats and a tailgate BBQ. Not a bad party then either.  That was the farthest south I have been for the 4^th.  The next year was the year I spent the farthest north! That year I was at the top of the world at a manmade island in the Buford Sea called Spy Island.  NO fireworks at all that year but they did feed us pretty good bacon wrapped filet mignon.  The food had to be the highlight that year because we were so far north the sun never set that day. Never got dark enough for firework. In Alaska the 4^th always takes a back seat to the solstice. That’s when the whole state really lets loose to have a summer party.

The next year I was working at Mount St. Helens and that had its own kind of fireworks. Last year was on a rig outside Theodore Roosevelt National Park. This year I am in the middle of the continent on a rig that they have promised to shut down for a few hours so we can all enjoy the BBQ. It’s practically unheard of to shut a rig down so I will believe it when we see it but the BBQ smells great already!  Few fireworks but between the flare and the lighting we will still light up the sky!

 

This month we spent 8 days riding the Danube bike path in Austria and Germany.  It was a test run for our much longer adventure coming up next month.  This was a chance for us to test out our gear and get use to our new mode of travel. It turned out to be a fantastic trip.  What we did is called bicycle touring it’s a mix between biking and backpacking. We carry everything we need on the bikes. Think of the book Wild but with bikes and more civilization.

We started in Ineglstat Germany and fallowed the river downstream to Vienna Austria.  Every day on the bike brought new sights, experiences, and challenges.  One of the very first things we learned on day one is that there is a right side and a wrong side to the river.  As you might suspect we learned this the hard way. Our first day we were on this gravel path that ran between farmland and river on a beautiful summer day.  The sun is great for a sort while but it quickly gets very warm in the sun without shade. The gravel path is on the flood control dike that is now the bank of the river and it goes up and down every 100 yards or so.  This got old really fast. Shortly after we crossed a damn and got on the right side of the river where it was all flat. Much better riding.

We also learned how to pack our panniers. These are saddle bags we use to carry all our stuff. Each bike has 5 total 2 on the back 2 on the front and one on the handlebars for easy grab stuff like snacks and cameras.  By the second day we had a system down. Stuff you don’t need on the very bottom camping gear in one, clothes in another, food all together in one and one for tools and other random things and food overflow, and on top rain gear. Luckily we didn’t need our rain gear on this trip but it is a high value item that you don’t want to get ride off or have at the bottom of the bag. When you want it you want it on top.  Over all we figured we had about 40 pound of stuff. With the bike being 35 pounds it can feel like a lot of weight going down the road.  Next time we will pack lighter.  After getting on and off trains and up and down stairs the new rule is the bike has to be able to be lifted while fully loaded. (Time to hit the gym!)

By the third day we were off the gravel track and on to pavement and made much better distances. We also learned to take brakes better. We made it a rule to stop about every hour to have a snack and a brake and stop and enjoy the scenery. This led to stopping in some pretty perfect spots. One time it was on the edge of a farmer’s field at a picnic table in the shade. Another time was a shady bench by the river, one time it was at picnic table next to water ski place and we were asked if we wanted to go for a boat ride (it sounded like the begins to a law & order episode so we said no). The trail is wonderfully developed in that there are plenty of places to stop all along the way. We discovered that we liked the stops the best so we were always on the lookout for a pretty spot.

The people we meet along the way always make the trip better. From the older German gentleman heading to the black sea with his bike and trailer to the day tripping couple from Oregon on vacation. The Germans and the Austrians were wonderfully nice and helpful.  It was fascinating riding thru farm country seeing the farmers at work and even some early season pickers out picking strawberries. The farmers are so cute the look up as you ride bide and every one nods and says good morning.

About half the time we were on the trial we camped ant it was great. Each camping spot had its own charm and amenities. The first night we camped was perfect. We had this nice flat shot between the trail and river. We pitched our tents and spent the evening watching the Viking boats go up and down. The second night we camped was at this very nice campground. The tents had a beautiful mowed lawn with picnic tables and flushies. There was a playground for the kids and a bar for the adults. The ice cream was amazing after a long hot ride! Our third night we camped in the shadow of Melk abbey at a little after thought of a campground. It was small field with good hedges all around. It was mostly RVs but there were about three other bikers like us.  The Inn right next to it served up a good hot dinner. That night we fell asleep to the sound of fireworks and the smell of a big bonfire. It was some Austrian celebration night what for I have no idea. We were tired enough that we fell asleep instead of joining the party.

The hardest lesson to learn was dealing with the airlines. It’s best to just put the bike in a box and tell the airline it is a bike and pay the fee. I had a special bag to put my bike in to avoid the fees and it worked but at a cost. When I finally got my bike home, it was delayed in the airports for 3 days, and unpacked one of the disk brakes was bent. I won against the airlines but it was more hassle than it was worth having to return days later to pick up my delinquent bag and to have it repaired, not to mention the scratches to the paint job. If crossing an ocean its better to put it in the box.

In short it was a fabulous trip and I can’t wait to go on the next one. But for now it’s back to the grind stone.