In The Cold In Russia in Winter
This big beast is off-shore Far East
Russia. Designed to withstand the elements of very severe Arctic conditions in
the winter time, temperatures can easily drop to -50 degrees C, yet the summers
in Sakhalin Island are very moderate with temperatures up to 35 C and very
humid. But as you can see from the picture above the winter can be very brutal
and unforgiving. The city of Yuzhno is quite a vibrant city with quite a mix of
architecture from the Soviet age and modern buildings, with the main feature in
the city centre being a rather large statue of Vladimir Lenin aptly named Lenin
Square. The night life here is also very vibrant and is quite friendly but like
any other place always take precautions and don’t get too complacent or you
could find yourself in trouble rather fast.
The majority of the younger generation speak very good English but the
35+ age group tend to speak Russian only so learning a few basic Russian words
and phrases goes a long way.
I found myself working here for one
year for a major operator mainly office based. An 8 ½ hour flight from Moscow
takes you to the city of Yuzhno on Sakhalin Island and arrive at a very old
Soviet era type air port. The first thing you observe when leaving the airport
is old Soviet era welcome signs so in many respects this is still old Russia.
This does show in some bars and restaurants as they have not quite caught the
etiquette of serving up food although the service is generally good apart from
normally receiving your main dish before the starter.
The biggest downside to all this is
the journey for to get off-shore. A fourteen hour train journey takes you from
Yuzhno to Nogliki where the heliport is based for serving the rigs and
platforms off-shore onboard a sleeper with rather uncomfortable beds, so arriving
at the other end still feels like coming off a long haul flight. You are then
transported from the train station to the heliport by Kamaz, which can be
difficult to climb aboard. After a security check at the heliport and watching
the video brief then its time to climb into a very large arctic survival suit
and onto the chopper. Again this is normally a very old Soviet era helicopter
with quite small windows so it does make you think how difficult it would be to
get out in an emergency. Luckily enough a short trip on the chopper and soon
arrive on the platform. This platform has very good accommodation with quite
comfortable beds and good food in the galley.
Operationally was quite slow going
because of the conditions in winter time. The completions here are 9 5/8” big
bore gas wells so that added to the challenge of the job about to be carried
out. The design of the platform is not
the greatest, adding to the challenge of getting the job done efficiently. No
pipe deck or catwalk so to speak going to the rig floor but a pipe barn on a
lower deck and a conveyer belt on an upper deck going to the rig floor, so
spotting equipment is a bit awkward.
Rigging up two sets of Dual 9”
Slickline BOPs, Riser and Shear Seals in these conditions is no easy task. Then
on top of all that heavy duty fishing with 5/16” cable. The job was a great
success, removing 1400 metres of e-line cable and an FSI logging tool, but
trying to beat the cold Russian winter was challenging to say the least. The
biggest challenge of all is logistics because of the remoteness of the
location. Bringing equipment and personnel into the country is not so easy. The
work here in Sakhalin is very enjoyable but it’s one hell of a journey getting
there. Anyhow, its always good to get home for a well earned rest.
