Life on an Oil Rig
Living on an oil rig with HPHT wells can be both terrifying and exciting. As it is, life on an oil rig is unusual and challenging.
When you’re dealing with HPHT wells and drilling, you’re dealing with natural gas and oil that are under pressure in the sea bed. Once you’ve drilled into it, you need to be able to control and stabilise the pressure that it gives off.
This is where life gets interesting. The drilling and the wells are done under very controlled conditions, but the slightest mistake can cause a disaster. Even if one little valve is malfunctioning, there is a chance that the whole rig can explode and go up in flames. This is something that has happened before and, despite many improvements and precautions might happen again.
Living on the rig is therefore quite challenging. It is high tension work with tremendous attention to detail. You’re away from your family for long periods of time and any social life that you have is with your mates on the rig.
The accommodation on an oil rig, though adequate, is not what you would call home comfort and you need to live in close quarters with a number of other people. It is important that you maintain good relationships with the men (and women) that work with you, as your life could one day be in their hands. You may also, one day, have to hold one of their lives in your hands.
Considering all of this, it takes a special kind of person to live and work on an oil rig. You need to be hardy, self-sufficient and emotionally mature. You need to be able to work under constant pressure while performing at your best. The pressure does not ease off when your shift is over, because the possibility of an explosion or some other disaster is always looming in the shadows.
It’s not all dire and gloomy though. As with any other lifestyle and job, there are the high points to consider. Because of the close quarters, the inhabitants of the oil rig become close and a special kind of camaraderie develops among them. There is always time for the odd joke (or prank) and the crew share as much laughter as possible. Problems and sorrows are also frequently shared and resolved.
No matter how high the tension and the pressure gets, the crew of an oil rig is trained to deal with danger and potential disaster. In case of an emergency they are prepared to risk life and limb to help fellow crew mates out of danger.
In their veins run the high pressure, high temperature of the oil rig.