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.