More about Drilling Rig components

The main functions of the offshore rotary drilling rig are as follows:

- Penetrating operations. The drill bit breaks down rock at the bottom-hole by the rotation under the weight. The rotating force of the rotary table is transmitted through the drill string to the bit. Some portion of the weight of drill collars is applied to the bit as the bit weight to push the bit against the rock.

- Hoisting operations. The drill string with the bit is lowered and lifted by the hoisting system, eg. Drawworks. The casing is also handled by the hoisting system.

- Conditioning and circulating the drilling fluids by the circulation system, eg. the mud pumps providing the high pressure mud to the well bore and return of the mud is being processed, filtered and clean through the shakers. The drill cuttings are contained into containers and shipped back to shore.

- Preventing the formation fluids from entering into the wellbore and controlling them to prevent collapse of the well.  More serious consequence, after the collapse of well, will be kicks and subsequently well blowout. The highly potential gas contained in the mud return will likely causes ignition of the gas on board and creating serious fire during the blowout.

The drilling fluids, conventionally known as muds, have lots of important functions in the offshore rig drilling. Main functions are as follows:

- Removal of cuttings from the bottom of the hole to the surface. Cuttings are separated from the mud at the shale shaker. The cuttings and samples of the mud may be further analyzed to study geological properties of the rocks penetrated, and to find out the indication of oil and gas in the formations.

- Controlling hydraulic pressure in the hole by adjusting the density of the mud to prevent collapse of the wall of the borehole, and to contain formation fluids in the formations.

- Cooling and lubricating the bit and the drill stem.

In the conventional system of the offshore drilling, the rotary table rotates the drill stem, but the down-hole mud motor and the top drive device are applied to rotate the bit in the directional and horizontal well drilling, or to improve operations in the vertical well drilling. The technical advancement of the measurement-while-drilling tools (MWD) and the logging-while-drilling tools (LWD) has contributed to the almost real-time acquisition of the down-hole information. Owing to these tools it has become easy to drill directional and horizontal wells.

Terminology :-

Casing: Steel pipe lowered into a hole drilled and bonded to formation by cement to keep the well safe.

Christmas tree: An assembly of valves installed at the top of a well to control the flow of oil and gas after the well has been completion.

Drill stem: A drilling assembly of tubulars, to rotate a bit at the bottom of the hole from the surface, which comprises of the kelly,the drill pipe, and drill collars.

Riser: Any pipe with the fluid flow upward in it. In offshore drilling a marine riser system is used to establish a connection between the rig and the seabed. In offshore petroleum production, production riser systems extend from the seabed to the deck of the production platform.

Well completion: A series of work to make a well ready for production after it has been drilled and tested. Although there are wide variations, it typically involves installing the production (deepest) casing, perforating the casing and installing tubing and the Christmas tree. A subsea completion or subsea-completed well is a well that sits entirely, that is, up to its Christmas tree, on the seabed.

RIG Components Guide

Insights into Subsea deepwater operation

Floaters in deep water normally use dynamic positioning system to keep the position above the well, and make use of a guideline-less drilling system. Drilling from a floater also means vertical floater movement (heave) due to sea waves. Introduction of a heave compensation system reduces the relative movement between the drill string and the sea floor. This heave system improves the drillbit performance and reduces wear between the drill string and the well. Most of the time the drill string is free to move relative to the well. That may however not be the case during well testing and landing of the BOP, meaning that the system is vulnerable to heave compensation failures.

Drilling can start when the bit located at the bottom of the drill string reaches the seabed or the bottom of the hole. Drilling requires weight on bit (WOB), bit rotation and mud circulated through the drill string and out through nozzles in the bit. The mud controls the bit temperature, provides bottom hole cleaning and transports cuttings to surface through the annulus. The driller and mud logger must have full volum control of the mud (volume going in and volume coming out of the well) for early detection of kick or lost circulation.

Running the subsea BOP and marine riser consist of :-
 
The upper part of the subsea BOP is called the lower marine riser package (LMRP) and contains (from the top):

Flex joint

Annular preventer

Hydraulic connector

The lower part of the subsea BOP is called the BOP stack and contains (from the top):

Annular preventer

Blind shear ram

Pipe rams

Wellhead connector

The BOP stack also have a more kill and choke line 'outlets' controlled by choke and kill valves.

Choke and kill valves

Typical diagram of a subsea BOP system :-



The LRMP also includes two redundant subsea control pods (one is back-up) with hydraulic pilot valves which are connected to a common power fluid supply at the floater. The hydraulic pilot valves are activated by a signal from the floater (hydraulically or electrically) to open and close and thus open and close the LMRP and BOP valves. The pods are normally retrievable. Subsea accumulators are located on the LMRP and the BOP and applied to reduce the closing time for the valves. The hydraulic oil return from the valves are normally vented to the sea.

The subsea BOP's are also frequently equipped with back-up control systems like:

Acoustic system
Auto disconnect system
Autoshear system
Deadman system
Emergency disconnect system (EDS)
ROV intervention system

The back-up control system is is typically used when the primary control system has failed during an emergency sistuation. Several scenarios, like accidental riser disconnect, means that the hydrostatic wellhead pressure will drop and that formation the fluid may starts to flow from the reservoir. The flow of formation fluids often starts slowly but increases rapidly. Fast response from the back-up system is therefore highly important. It is also important that the back-up system is independent of the primary system. The auto disconnect, autoshear, deadman and emergency disconnect systems are automatically actuated back-up systems. Note that the auto disconnect, autoshear and deadman need to be armed to be operational. Any back-up system should be reliable and not too complex so that the rig crew does not fear using the system.

The LMRP is connected on the top of the subsea BOP at the cellar deck, which is the lower deck on the drilling rig. The LRMP/BOP stack assembly is functional tested and skidded on rail-beams to the well center of the cellar deck where there is a large hole in the deck called the moon pool. The LMRP is connected to the marine riser coming down from the rotary table in the drill floor above. The LMRP/BOP stack assembly and the marine riser are then run through the moon pool, the splash zone, further through the sea, landed and hydraulically latched on the wellhead by the wellhead connector. The BOP is then overpull- and pressure tested.

A floater will always move up and down and sideways due to waves and sea currents. The floater will thus also move up and down and sideways relative to the marine riser, since the marine riser is fixed to the wellhead at the seabed. After being tested, the marine riser is disconnected from the topdrive and from now on kept in tension and heave compensated through a dedicated riser heave and tension system. The marine riser will have an upper assembly which is fixed to the floater, consisting of (from the top):

Diverter

Flex joint

Male part of the slip joint

This upper assembly will move with the rig and relative to the rest of the riser. The slip joint is a telescopic joint that allows movement up and down while maintaining a hydraulic seal. The flex joint allows sideways movements. There is also a flex joint on the riser bottom just above the BOP. The diverter has an annular preventer that can be used to control returning fluids that have escaped the BOP and entered the riser. E.g., it may be difficult to detect gas escaping the BOP when drilling in deep waters with a high hydrostatic pressure at the BOP, since the expansion of gas is restricted. The gas may however expand in the riser due to reduced pressure. This will be detected by increased mud return at the surface. This gas will be stopped by the annular preventer and diverted to flare. A simple illustration of the floater after the marine riser is in place is given in figure 1.

One of the annular preventers is closed if a kick is detected. The well must be killed by circulating heavy mud into the well. To make this possible there is a kill and choke line from the BOP and up to the platform. These lines are connected outside the riser. Kill mud is circulated into the well through the drillpipe if possible and the return through the choke line with 'outlet' below the annular preventer. If not, kill mud has to be pumped into the well through the kill line. The return is directed to the choke and kill manifold. The gas may be separated in the poorboy degasser or burned without separation. The diverter on the top of the riser may also be used in a kick situation.

Subsea operation1

Well completions

Once an oil/gas well is being drilled and commercially viable quantities of oil/gas are present for extraction, the well must be 'completed' to allow for the flow of petroleum out of the formation and up to the surface. This process includes strengthening the well hole with casing, evaluating the pressure and temperature of the formation and installing proper equipment to ensure an efficient flow of oil/gas out of the well.

Condensate wells are wells that contain natural gas, as well as a liquid condensate. This condensate is a liquid hydrocarbon mixture that is often separated from the natural gas either at the wellhead, or during the processing of the natural gas. It is important to remember that natural gas, being lighter than air, will naturally rise to the surface of a well. Because of this, in many natural gas and condensate wells, lifting equipment and well treatment are not necessary.

Completing a well consists of a number of steps: installing the well casing, completing the well, installing the wellhead, and installing lifting equipment or treating the formation should that be required.

Installing well casing is an important part of the drilling and completion process. Well casing consists of a series of metal tubes installed in drilled hole. Casing strengthens the sides of the well hole, ensures that no oil or natural gas seeps out of the well hole as it is brought to the surface. A good deal of planning is necessary to ensure that the proper casing for each well is installed. The type of casing used depends on the subsurface characteristics of the well, including the diameter of the well and the pressures and temperatures experienced throughout the well. The diameter of the well hole depends on the size of the drill bit used. In most wells, the diameter of the well hole decreases the deeper it is drilled, leading to a type of conical shape that must be taken into account when installing casing.

There are five different types of well casing. They include:

-Conductor Casing

-Surface Casing

-Intermediate Casing

-Liner String

-Production Casing

-Conductor Casing

Conductor casing is installed first, usually prior to the arrival of the drilling rig. The hole for conductor casing is often drilled with a small auger drill, mounted on the back of a truck. Conductor casing is usually no more than 20 to 50 feet long. It is installed to prevent the top of the well from caving in and to help in the process of circulating the drilling fluid up from the bottom of the well. Onshore, this casing is usually 16 to 20 inches in diameter, while offshore casing usually measures 30 to 42 inches. The conductor casing is cemented into place before drilling begins.

Surface casing is the next type of casing to be installed. It can be anywhere from a few hundred to 2,000 feet long, and is smaller in diameter than the conductor casing. When installed, the surface casing fits inside the top of the conductor casing. The primary purpose of surface casing is to protect fresh water deposits near the surface of the well from being contaminated by leaking hydrocarbons or salt water from deeper underground. It also serves as a conduit for drilling mud returning to the surface, and helps protect the drill hole from being damaged during drilling. Surface casing, like conductor casing, is cemented into place.

Intermediate casing is usually the longest section of casing found in a well. The primary purpose of intermediate casing is to minimize the hazards that come along with subsurface formations that may affect the well. These include abnormal underground pressure zones, underground shale, and formations that might otherwise contaminate the well, such as underground salt-water deposits. In many instances, even though there may be no evidence of an unusual underground formation, intermediate casing is run as insurance against the possibility of such a formation affecting the well.

Liner strings are sometimes used instead of intermediate casing. Liner strings are commonly run from the bottom of another type of casing to the open well area. However, liner strings are usually attached to the previous casing with 'hangers', instead of being cemented into place.

Production casing, alternatively called the 'oil string' or 'long string,’ is installed last and is the deepest section of casing in a well. This is the casing that provides a conduit from the surface of the well to the petroleum-producing formation. The size of the production casing depends on a number of considerations, including the lifting equipment to be used, the number of completions required, and the possibility of deepening the well at a later time.

Installing Well Casing

Well casing is a very important part of the completed well. In addition to strengthening the well hole, it provides a conduit to allow hydrocarbons to be extracted without intermingling with other fluids and formations found underground. It is also instrumental in preventing blowouts, allowing the formation to be 'sealed' from the top should dangerous pressure levels be reached.

Well completion commonly refers to the process of finishing a well so that it is ready to produce oil or natural gas. In essence, completion consists of deciding on the characteristics of the intake portion of the well in the targeted hydrocarbon formation. There are a number of types of completions, including:

Open Hole Completion

Conventional Perforated Completion

Sand Exclusion Completion

Permanent Completion

Multiple Zone Completion

Drainhole Completion

Well Head

It is the philosophy that during the drilling, - testing, completion water injection and workover of an oil or gas well, any work undertaken should be executed in such a manner that:

1. Loss of human life and injury to crewmembers shall be avoided

2. Pollution of the surrounding environment shall be avoided

3. Loss of rig and damage to equipment shall be avoided.

If all of the aforementioned conditions are fulfilled then the economic and ecological result shall be successful. It is also the philosophy :

1. That detection and controlling a kick takes a team effort from all members of the rig crew. Each member must be completely familiar with his duties so that any well control operation can proceed smoothly and efficiently

2. To maintain all well control equipment in first class condition and ready for use whenever required

3. To ensure that all personnel directly involved in well control situation shall be educated to a standard that ensures complete understanding of any situation that may arise.

However, for any other Well Control procedures and guidelines to take precedence over the ones shown in the ”Well Control Manual”, the following is a must and can not be deviated:

1. At least two tested Safety Barriers shall be present in drilling and producing wells. If for some reason only one Safety Barrier is present, all activities shall cease until two Safety Barriers are reestablished

2. All Safety Barriers must be tested in accordance with approved procedures, or as specified in the programme prepared for the specific operation

3. Activity Typical Independent Barriers:

• Drilling: A sufficient amount of mud or fluid of adequate density to control the well bore pressure; certified and tested BOP stack dressed with suitable rams; unperforated, cemented and pressure tested casing or liner; tested downhole plug; back pressure valve (BPV)

• Casing: A sufficient amount of mud or fluid of adequate density to control the well bore pressure; certified and tested BOP stack dressed with suitable Casing rams

• Snubbing: BOP stack; back pressure valve in the work string; independent safety shear seal immediately on top of Christmas tree; wireline set plug

• Production: Christmas tree; surface controlled subsurface safety valve (SCSSV); downhole plug

• Wireline: Christmas tree valves; wireline BOP; wireline lubricator.

For Jack-Ups Operating under the API Standard

Frequency :  -  All blow out prevention components that may be exposed to well pressure shall be function and pressure tested as follows:

1. When installed

2. After casing has been run, cemented and BOP nippled-up; but prior to drilling out of the shoe

3. Prior to production testing or completion

4. At any time the integrity of the BOP and casing becomes suspect

5. Function test BOP with low manifold pressure, flush kill - and choke lines each week, unless well operations prevent testing

6. Or at least every 21 days (API RP 53 Third Edition section 17.3.3), unless well operations prevent testing. Well operations that may prevent testing are stuck pipe and kick control. If a period greater than 21 days has elapsed since the previous test the reason for the test postponement must be entered on the drilling report.


Well Control

Offshore drilling operations - better understanding

Drilling offshore for the 'black gold" or oil in the deepwater is one of the greatest technological breakthroughs in recent decades, and many new techniques have been developed to profit from the abundance of oil underneath the seabed. While offshore shallow water drilling has been around for hundreds of years in one form or the another, the effective extraction of petroleum from beneath the sea floor did not surface until the last forty years and more recent deepwater areas are high on the look out.. The search for oil often turns out to be unproductive, but this practice is vital for the economic future of many nations, some countries drilled for their own domestic consumption and some for export.

In order for any drilling to take place, an offshore drilling rig, ship or semi-submersible must first be deployed. These offshore vessels or MODU ( mobile offshore drilling units ) can be situated in water up to a several hundred meters to thousand meters in water depth. But before any drilling takes place, an oil and gas "trap" must first be located in the ocean, and with the ocean floor being at such great depths, the visibility is often very poor. To locate potential traps, engineers use seismic surveying, and then analyze the data they receive to decide whether or not drilling in the area would have the chance of containing oil and/or gas. The engineers will not know whether their assumptions are true until they penetrate the trap with a drill bit. Due to the fact that the traps can sometimes be a great distance below the ocean, advanced computer technology is required to guide the drill bit to a fixed location. Installed above the drill bit is a navigation device, which sends back information to the controller, also known as logging the well,  allowing them to locate the exact location that is presumed to have the oil and to measure and monitor the trap. Inside the drill pipe, there is a steerable motor that can be controlled to adjust the drill and the direction in which it is headed.

Drilling Opn

Latest MODU designs are to make offshore drilling rigs and vessels much safer to operate in view of the recent accident and spill at the Gulf of Mexico while drilling and BP corporate image has somewhat suffered some setback. Offshore watchdogs, like USCG, etc, are now going to get tougher on violators and some redefining of offshore operation rules are looked at.

To make offshore drilling a little safer, extensive training would be mandatory for all of the worker on the rigs and platforms, which would reduce the number of spills due to human mistake or equipment faliure to operate under emergency situation. Furthermore, the technology in offshore drilling would need to be improved further, with new tools created that would eliminate the amount of pollutants released.

Marine biologists and researchers could perform a detailed study of the marine life in the surrounding area and attempt to design a rig that would be safer to the marine ecosystem and that could also be utilized by the marine life around the proposed area(s). Then they could use this new knowledge to make the existing rigs and platforms more eco-friendly.

Inspections of the rigs and platforms should continue, but the oil drilling companies should not be notified when the inspections will take place.

- The possibility of further pollution still exists

- The possibility of more offshore rigs being used is increased

- Oil companies would need to clean up their rigs and platforms to pass the inspections

- Some countries would no longer need to import oil, causing the supplying countries to lose money The right for the marine life to live a healthy and safe life still remains at risk

- Environmentalists worries would be put at ease (to an extent) knowing the rigs are safer Oil companies wouldn’t have to worry about being questioned for their actions

Rig Functions

What if someone in your workplace is BSing ?

For most of us, the fact that a statement is false might constitutes in itself a reason, however weak and easily overridden, not to make the statement. ... people are guided by their beliefs concerning the way things are when either in lying or telling the truth. It guide them as they have tendency to describe to the society correctly or to describe it untruly or half-truth. For such case, making out half-truths might not tend to unfit an individual for telling the truth in the same way that bullshitting tends to. Through extensive indulgence in the latter activity, which involves making assertions without paying attention to anything except what it suits one to say, a person's normal habit of attending to things may become attenuated or lost. Someone who give half-truths and someone who tells the full truth are playing on opposite sides, so to speak, in the same game. Each responds to the facts as he understands them, although the response of the one is guided by the authority of the truth, while the response of the other defies that authority and refuses to meet its demands. The bullshitter ignores these demands altogether. By virtue of this, bullshit is a greater enemy of the truth than lies or half-truth are.

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  Determine what serves the presenter’s self-interest. Whenever someone is presenting a point of view, you owe it to yourself to consider how their opinion might correlate to their own self-interest. After all, there must be some reason they have to make the argument to you in the first place. And that reason more likely correlates with their own self-interest than with yours.
• Question the info or data. We live in a world of pseudo science, skewed sample sets and anonymous experts. Don’t accept anything as an important truth without first examining the source.
• Look out for truth qualifying statements. “To tell you the truth” or “Let’s be frank” or “I have to be honest…” are all statements that beg the question – “Are we starting to be honest just now?”
• Hear for name dropping. Credibility should always be derived from the strength of the argument, known facts and/or the reputation of the person present. If absent prominent people are the backbone of an argument, you should be suspect.
• Identify confusion in response to logical counterpoints. This type of response is meant to undermine your confidence in the soundness of your counter argument without seeking to specifically or factually oppose the point itself. Watch out for confusion when there should be none.
• Be careful of the obvious. If a conversation provides you with one obvious thought after another, wait for the end of the train of thoughts as it is typically an illogical conclusion. After getting into a “yes…yes… yes…” rhythm, you may easily accept a well placed random conclusion or mistruth.

When staff in organization started to show signs of not being truthful and behaving in the opposite, it will end up costing the company due to some of the related impact due to personnel being not giving the correct reporting and trying to cover up in fear of being reprimand should their mistake is uncovered, some of the greater impact could lead to following broader senses :-

- Persistent and disruptive strategy changes without correct stakeholders information.

- Constant debate over issues with no real feedback lacking action plan.

- Plans are agreed but some groups follow them while others hide away due to cover ups.

- Product shortfalls due to inaccurate and unreliable reporting.

- Miscommunication between management levels, i.e. middle managers are constantly "BS" by incorrect information, plans, datas.

- Consistent budget misses in either direction due to inconsistent reporting

- Support organizations like planning or production cannot cope with changing demands from technical.

Ways to Know When Someone’s BSing You

1. Story or context changes. You can ask them the same thing two or three times and get different answers or replies.
2. They look or pretend dumb but they’re not. It’s disingenuous, not a good sign.
3. They put up a smart look but they’re not. Not necessarily disingenuous, but also not a good sign.
4. They try overly hard. That’s got to give you pause.
5. They look nervous when they shouldn’t be.
6. They look scared when they shouldn’t be.
7. They ask the question repeatedly. Give them time to think of an appropriate answer.
8. There’s something in it for them. Anytime somebody’s trying to sell you something, there’s a good chance you’re being BS.
9. They’re fanatical. Fanaticism, fundamentalism, call it whatever you want, it’s a one-sided view of an issue that cuts off debate. 

It is seen to be quite obvious - pundits, politicians, senior/junior executives, engineers, technicians, labourers, and even journalists - have sunk into habits of "BSing" from which many of them could be rescued. Many who claim to speak from faith have so cherrypicked their scripture sources that their announcements are nothing but bullshit. I do believe that most people whose characters haven't been metastasized by the greed of fame and publicity hold firmly to the conviction that "bsing" is no better than lying. What they are going to have to learn, if the society or organization is to be saved is that hearing what you want to hear and filtering out the rest which may be part of the BS.

Learn from the Big Apple !

The Big Apple, ( one that produces IPhone, Ipad, Ipod and I am not referring just the ordinary fruits perse ) has been in recent years move to being one of the best company having achieved a truly successfull innovative story, and it took only just less than a year for the Apple team to innovate from start to finish the Ipod which back then almost kill the CD industry, not instantly but almost!

Clearly, there are some lessons for innovators, maybe not just innovators but people like us in the offshore rig building industry to take a refreshing look again and where we need to re-learn our existing engineering, production & construction processes with some innovative ideas perhaps and where we could still could maintain the league in the offshore industry. We all are fully aware there are others also capable in their effort to produce rigs of demand and it will not be just the world class builder leading alone in such race for the many available offshore contracts. We need to start looking up and rebuild our strength :

Learn from past mistakes and eat the humble pie

Apple was most decidedly not thinking about portable music as the 20th century drew to a close. In the age of mp3 and peer-to-peer sharing of music, Apple was focused on video and developing iTV and iMovie - so much so, that their then current version of the iMac didn't have a CD-burner.

In fact, if they are honest, they mistook the market for music completely. The world's most innovative company was literally blind to one of the biggest social trends that was occurring at the time!

To their credit, however, and with the aid of distressing financial figures resulting from such a misreading of the market, Apple realised that it had to change its approach to the market and to the technology. Given Apple's widespread reputation for innovation and trendiness, its failure to anticipate the importance of music in the lives of personal computer users was completely uncharacteristic.

Occasioned by a US$195 million quarterly loss, however, Apple took motivation from their mistake and realised that they needed to completely rethink the way they went to market. Apple not only learned from their mistake, they used it to catapult a new innovation.

Hire those with experience and skill

So, if you're Apple, how do you recover? The common advice from most management books on building teams has typically been to: 'hire for attitude, train for skills'. This model better ensures harmonious work environments and friendly collaborations. Yet, in the world of innovation, aspirations and attitude aren't enough. In the situation that it found itself in, Apple needed real skills, and so when Steve Jobs compiled the iPod team he loaded the odds in his favour by going with his very best people in hardware, software, and design. A team was assembled because they were the best.

And putting the best skilled on a mission to change the world, drove competition within them, leading the team to perform at peak levels - nobody on that team wanted to be 'second-best'!  

Find great and workable ideas

What really sets the iPod apart from all of the other mp3 players, however, is neither the hardware, the software, nor the design - although all are world-class. The iPod's real differentiator is the ease with which the customer can access, download, store and upload the music and podcasts.

No one else can do this, and this 'innovation' did not come from within Apple, but from an outsider - Tony Fadell - who was trying to do this on his own. Apple found him - think about how difficult that is, to find someone with a good idea outside of your firm - and hired him on an eight-week contract! This was not about building a long-term employment relationship, nor about loyalty, but about accessing someone else's good idea.

Create and encourage "think" lessons

Once the team was pulled together, Steve Jobs put them into a common physical space that although not consistent with their hierarchical position, raised the probability of their having effective and fast conversations. The design team's working quarters have been described as having 'very little personal space' - there were no cubicles or offices.

By imposing open environments, the creativity and free-flow of ideas were nourished. In the flow of ideas, space matters!

Define leaderships

When you talk about Apple, you can never avoid mentioning Steve Jobs. To do so would be to underestimate his importance to the attitude of the company, and ultimately the brand.

So what role did he play in the iPod? After developing a top-notch team, Jobs gave them ambitious and clear visions. He charged the team with creating a product that would put 1,000 songs in their pocket; software so easy that their mothers could use it; and a complete product offering that would be in retail outlets in eight months.

What is so exquisite about these objectives is that they are simple, clear and precise, yet broad enough so that the team could get to work without feeling constrained by the way the vision was presented - the team could be totally focused and liberated at the same time! Innovative leaders must provide a clear briefing that organises a team but which, at the same time, doesn't restrict their talent capabilities.

Even with a reputation for getting involved in projects, Jobs actually didn't interfere all that much with the iPod project. He was both smart enough to compose a highly skilled team and then to let their skills shine. Yet, along the way, Jobs acted as both a policeman and cheerleader for the project.

He imposed an attitude that let the team members know that Apple's win would also be their personally. And, by cheerleading, he was also able to police the parameters of the project, ensuring the team stuck to his briefing goals.

Stand firm

Another Apple product, the iPhone, is now redefining the mobile phone. Yet, this innovation recently posed a threat to Apple when a technical glitch created reception problems for users. Job's response was to display true leadership by giving a message that matched what the Apple culture really is - an engineering company that has repeatedly changed the world for the better.

His message to the public was: 'We'll fix the small iPhone problem,' and to his competitors, 'catch us if you can!'   I think we as offshore rig designer and builder, probably will have to do more than Apple does and we surely have lots of technical issues to look at and we could finish sorting out, other competitors will be slowly catching up with us in no lesser time.

How having an MBA work out for you ?

Why Taiwan famous baker desperately needs to attend an eMBA ?  May 2013 news

Wu Pao-chun is an award-winning baker, a master of the breaded arts, hailed as the "glory of Taiwan" alongside Oscar-winning movie director Lee Ang.
He is an award-winning baker, a master of the breaded arts, hailed as the "glory of Taiwan" alongside Oscar-winning movie director Lee Ang. But that is not enough for Taiwanese universities, which have rejected Wu Pao-chun's attempts to get a master's degree, driving him to try his luck in Singapore.
It was at the prestigious Bakery World Cup in Paris in 2010 where Wu, now 43, became a national icon. He beat 23 rivals from 16 countries to clinch the title of Master Baker in the bread category with his rose-lychee bread creation that includes millet wine, rose petals and dried lychees - ingredients that came from Taiwan.

"I fulfilled my dream. I was able to brighten the name Taiwan," he said then.

His Wu Pao-chun Bread bakery, which opened in Kaohsiung in late 2010 to much fanfare, reportedly racked up sales of more than NT$200 million (US$6.68 million) last year. The pineapple tarts he sells are named after his mother, the late Madam Chen Wu-hsien. The youngest of eight children, he was raised by the widow in the southern county of Pingtung.
He quit school after junior high - the equivalent of secondary school in Singapore - to become a baking apprentice in Taipei, as he could not bear to see his mother slog to make ends meet. But, despite his culinary and business achievements, he was turned down in his applications to the Executive Master of Business Administration (EMBA) programme at the National Chengchi University and National Sun Yat-sen University.

EATING bak kut teh and other Singapore favourites would be great, but what celebrity baker Wu Pao-chun really hungers for when he begins an executive MBA course in the country is the know-how to run his burgeoning business, he tells The Straits Times.

Mr Wu's plan to study at the National University of Singapore (NUS) in July has caused something of a nationalistic uproar in Taiwan. But he believes it is time to venture out of his comfort zone of bread-making and school himself in finance, logistics and the management skills befitting an entrepreneur.

Mr Wu announced on the Facebook page of his shop, Wu Pao-chun Bakery, that he had accepted an offer from NUS to enrol in its Asia- Pacific Executive MBA course. For the next two years, he will attend 10 days of intensive lessons every three months. The programme is conducted in Mandarin and features field trips to countries in the region.

"I'd asked many Taiwanese friends about the programme and they told me it would give me many opportunities to learn," he said of his choice of NUS.

Mr Wu shot to fame after winning the Master Baker title in the bread category of the prestigious Louis Lesaffre Cup in France in 2010. His three-year-old shop in Kaohsiung racked up sales of more than NT$200 million (S$8.4 million) last year. His second shop, in Taipei, is due to open in August.

The high-school dropout also expressed his frustration with Taiwanese universities' graduates- only entry criteria for their EMBA programmes. Many Taiwanese, including President Ma Ying- jeou, have called for the laws to be revised. The education authorities promptly did so. The revision has been nicknamed the "Wu Pao-chun clause".

Mr Wu said yesterday that he never expected his comments to stir so much controversy. He talked enthusiastically about his upcoming stint as a lecturer at National Taiwan University, where he will teach the finer points of farming and, of course, baking. He will also attend selected business management classes at the school, on top of his studies at NUS.

Some companies would naturally love their underpaid employees.  They would bank on your guilt and sense of obligation to keep you from leaving.  Some older gen workers would rather not quit a company that has underpaid and under-appreciated them for years.  If you think or suddenly gotten up from bed and woke up realising all these years you’re not being treated right or mistreated properly, you may have to leave for better treatment or what they say commonly, "greener pasture"...... if there is such these days of poor economy led by the downfall of big economies..

Did your company pay any part of your MBA or MSc study?  If so, how long do you have to work for them without having to repay the cost of tuition? Usually you are bonded for two to three years and of course the company do not expect you to leave the company after that.  However, on the other hand, it would be unfair to let yourself be held hostage at a meager monthly sum and $100,000 less per year than another company would pay you because of a $20,000 repayment required should you decide to call it a day.  If the company did not pay  part of your tuition, then I think you don’t have to consider that in your decision calculus.   There are more reasons than salary to stay at a job.  For one, in this economy, any job is a blessing and there are people who would love to take your place.  Work-life balance is another huge one.  Sure, you can make more money somewhere else, but are they going to let you work one day a week from home?  Sometimes location really gets you–if you live in a less populated area, switching jobs can mean moving, and you don’t want to uproot everything for a strange new work place and town.

But then, you decided you want to stay.  You just want to be recognized for your skills and experience.  Let's think about what should you be thinking then :

1. What is it that you can and couldn’t do before your MBA?  Note that I said “do” not “know.”  You may know a ton more, but does that translate into things that are helping your company?  For instance, you may have studied complex international finance policies in school, but if your company deals with nothing more international than ordering Mexican food for lunch, it’s not helpful to them.
2. Why would they list a vacancy at a higher salary then you are making?  How in the heck should you know?  Well, if you think you need to know, Go ask.  Ask straight out what it is that you are not doing that they expected someone in this position to do.  Expect some sputtering.  It may well be a case of stupid policy, such as not giving an existing employee more than a 10% increase.
3. Are you prepare to make more money elsewhere? We all are sure we’re fabulous and all that, but could you really make more elsewhere?  Say you only have 2 years of technical experience plus the MBA.  The market is flooded now in the marine and offshore sector, so they may well be paying you precisely what you’re worth to them.  It’s not the job of a company to pay you what you need to live your chosen lifestyle.  It’s their job to pay you in accordance with the amount you can help the organisation or section. And remember in big organization, no one is indispensable no matter how high or senior you are in the company.
4. Do you need to asked directly for a raise? You say you got a fabulous retention bonus, EVA, extras,etc.   Your bosses may think, “Gee, weren’t we generous with that retention bonus?” and have no plans to give you a raise.  They may not know that you think you deserve one.  After all, they may feel like they’ve adequately compensated you for your increased skills.  You need to spell it out for them.
5. Do you need to show that you are more valuable. Make a list of all the functions you do, along with a description of how you do them.  If you have the chance to write a self-appraisal, now is the time to do so.  If you need to, try to make it obvious that you are underpaid.  Make it extremely obvious that you are technically experience and well informed on the technological arena.  This is not the time to be modest.  Save that for dinner with your in-laws.
6. If you need to be moving on. It’s a sad truth, but sometimes companies just won’t ever appreciate you or realise how you have contributed to the organisation until someone else wants to buy you out.  But, if you’ve talked repeatedly about your undying devotion, or how you can never leave because you live across the street, they just won’t see any reason to increase your salary.

Personally, the three letters MBA on your resume are not going to make you automatically more valuable. I have my MBA and believe that without a doubt it has helped me to grow into the position I have today. I am also very fortunate to have given another Master course to pursue after my p/t MBA and this really given me another overview of the marine technology where everyday I am still in the learning process. I would not have achieved what I have without the skills I've learned along the way. An MBA rounds out a person's skills to help bring "the big picture" into perspective. In time, the rewards will come from the value you'll bring to a team....not three letters behind your name.

P.S. Never try to go to your employer with an offer from another company. That would be your biggest mistake if you somehow foolishly err on this move. Even if some company try to buy you out, you've planted the seeds of disloyalty with your present one and you'll ruin your career in the long run or at least make a bad name in your record. Instead, try approach with why you feel you deserve more but do not try to be hardup. If they choose not to pay you what you feel you're worth, then you can actively seek other options with a clear conscious.

Having an MBA is a sign of potential, not performance, so the key question is to identify how performance has changed as a result of the MBA. One reason I find p/t MBAs - where students continue to work while doing their studies - much more successful (for both the student and the company) than f/t MBAs is that the student has many opportunities during the program to discuss their learning with their peers and bosses and put new ideas into real practical practice. They can put markers down about their improved performance as they go along. This makes it much easier to negotiate job changes and pay rises after the studies have been completed.

Need SWOT check on your business health !

When you are running your own business, be it small or medium enterprise, having some understanding of basics and knowledge of the financial health of your business is fundamental to helping you decide what you can and should do. It is not just leaving it to your managers to provide you the financial statement and telling you the bolts and nuts of each underlying dollar value terminology. Plenty of information on the financial health and performance of your business can be obtained by analysing your financial statements through various financial ratios. Comparing these ratios against past performance and similar businesses will help you identify the strengths and weaknesses of your business. You need to look at historical datas of your business trends and where is it moving on, you could also do better forecasting and check on your inventories looking at the overall market situation.

The SWOT analysis ( one of the "must" topics in MBA course for years and I am not sure if this theory still going to stay for long ) is a valuable step in your business situational analysis. Assessing your firm’s strengths, weaknesses, market opportunities, and threats through a SWOT analysis is a very simple process that can offer powerful insight into the potential and critical issues affecting a venture.

The SWOT analysis begins by conducting an inventory of internal strengths and weaknesses in your organization. You will then note the external opportunities and threats that may affect the organization, based on your market and the overall environment. Don’t be concerned about elaborating on these topics at this stage; bullet points may be the best way to begin. Capture the factors you believe are relevant in each of the four areas. You will want to review what you have noted here as you work through your marketing plan. The primary purpose of the SWOT analysis is to identify and assign each significant factor, positive and negative, to one of the four categories, allowing you to take an objective look at your business. The SWOT analysis will be a useful tool in developing and confirming your goals and your marketing strategy.

SWOT analysis

You should undertake a SWOT - strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats - analysis to determine the state of your business, its capacity to recover now the downturn is over, and what additional capacity may be needed.

When analysing opportunities and threats, you should:

·  Research changes in customer taste

·  Research how the tough times have affected your suppliers and competitors.

·  Determine what changes may need to be made, including adding capacity to your business, shifting capacity or disposing of excess capacity.

Review your business plan and rewrite where appropriate

You should review your current business plan to ensure it reflects the capacity of your business and the the ability to grow that capacity. You should consider where you want to take your business and understand any uncertainties that remain. Important areas to focus the plan on include:

·  How to expand capacity

·  How much such expansion is likely to cost

·  How the business is going to pay for such expansion.

Focus on innovation and efficiency

When a business is in recovery mode, it is likely to become more innovative while keeping a strong focus on efficiency. Areas innovation should be limited, while staff should be empowered to search for new opportunities. To ensure limited resources are focused on the most promising innovations, pre-action reviews of projects should be undertaken.

Take advantage of opportunities

Businesses that now find themselves in a strong financial position should consider opportunities to expand. Opportunities may be favourable, as some asset prices remain depressed.

Review and revise your marketing plan

You should consider reviewing and revising your marketing plan. Such a plan should reflect the likelihood of limited resources continuing to be a constraint on marketing activity. It is, therefore, important that your marketing plan be focused on helping improve the cash position of your business, its profitability and promoting any new - or revived - products and services.

A marketing plan for a business seeking to recover should:

·  Focus on sales that have high margins and bring in cash quickly

·  Reward staff for sales of higher-margin products and when payment is received

·  Avoid discounting, unless it can achieve a better gross profit margin through increased sales

·  Measure the success of each promotional activity or campaign

·  Encourage customers to pay at the point of purchase or pay early.

Remain focused on improving cash position

Focus on improving your cash position by improving working capital management - such as by reducing stock levels, increasing the percentage of cash sales and reducing the time you give debtors to pay. Such moves add to your cash reserves, which can be an important source finance.

Focus on improving profitability

Amid the recovery, discounts and other incentives introduced to improve your cash position during the tough times should be removed, so you can focus on improving profitability. Increased profitability builds retained earnings, creating another internal source of finance.

Funding recovery efforts

When considering borrowing from a bank, a business should:

·  Determine what the funds are to be used for and the time they are required

·  Be realistic about the amount of funds that can be afforded

·  Determine the level of security that can be offered

·  Start early.

Addressing weaknesses in your business

The actions a business may have taken to get through the slowdown can have negative consequences that may need to be addressed amid the recovery. Activities that may need to be undertaken to address the consequences of actions taken during tough times include:

·  Increase stock

·  Pay down high-priced external debt

·  Broaden the focus of sales

·  Revisit staffing arrangements

·  Beware of a false recovery.

Are older Rigs worthwhile to be upgraded?

The drilling or completing of exploration and development wells in today's offshore business will likely to continue to place an increasing demand on the present ageing Semi-Submersible fleet in the offshore presence.  In respect of development drilling, operating and drilling companies require more complex wells to be brought on line in a timely and efficient manner such that the production cost per barrel is minimised. The need to enhance the capabilities of existing old Semi-Submersible units in order to meet these needs has never been greater. It is important that Operating Companies and Drilling Contractors align their respective goals both technically and commercially in order for both to remain competitive within their respective markets, and meet the needs of offshore activities,etc.

Some of the enhancements on the old rigs to cater for deeper water operation and more severe environment condition require the vessels to undergo some major conversions at shipyards before they are able to meet the new operational requirements, these include other considerations like :

* The change in the type of wells drilled in the offshore over the past few years, and also the type of wells that will be required in the future.

* The age and capabilities of the existing semi-submersible fleet.

* The change in market availability of semi-submersible units in the other sector.

* Rig characteristics required for the enhancement of current and future performance.

* The importance of Drilling Contractor and Operating Company goal alignment for performance improvements.

* The upgrading of second/third generation semi-submersible with (a) active heave compensation (b) 7500 psi circulating system (c) enhanced solids control capabilities, and the associated benefits plus rational behind these upgrades.

* Annual savings in the region can be achieved with the upgrades, depending on the daily operating costs and the total cost of upgrades including the life expectancy and extended useful life after the upgrade. Usually old rigs have gone through probably 30 years of service life and will only be extendable for another 25 years depending on the condition of the steel hull.

Over the past years, there has been a dramatic change in the type of operations performed by semi-submersible drilling units in the North Sea, gulf and other benign region, however, recent development started to look at far greater focus on directional subsea development projects along with deep water and HPHT wells, as opposed to the conventional exploration and appraisal wells. There is increasing trend towards bringing previous discoveries which were considered to be marginal from an economical prospective, on line by using new subsea technology coupled with reduced drilling costs through performance improvements. This change in activity coupled with a steady rise in the average age of the existing fleet of rigs forces us to ask the question, "How suitable are these existing units in terms of performance optimisation for the type of work that is currently being undertaken ?" Looking at the economics point of view, it may seem like conversion of old rigs may not be that economical than have new builts in the long term as well as the destination of the rigs to be operated. More importantly as an industry we must be asking ourselves the question, "How can we improve performance and within the operator's budget as well as meeting the performance required at site specific?" Alot of studies have to be initiated into reviewing the potential performance improvements that could be achieved through the upgrading of an existing semi-submersible unit and working out the sums right within budgetary plans. These potential performance improvements and economical impacts were also viewed in light of the rig type and the work programme that has to be executed.

Other major items on board the rig which impact the decision of conversion are :-

- Power generation of the rig
- The mode of mooring or using DP ( dynamic positioning ) to position the vessel on location
- The efficiency of drilling and handling of subsea operation
- The different types of rules and vessel notations to meet the site specific and classification impact
- The renewal of the existing systems to meet higher demand of the rig
- The number of crew onboard with upgrade as it would mean more men to handle a bigger and more complicated vessel to be operated
- The gain in variable deck load carrying capacity after extending and increasing the "bouyancy" of the vessel to allow it to carry more capacity and performance more offshore tasks
- Other aspects of the rig, such as rig motions with increased in pontoon sizes where waterplane area has related effect on motions, etc

Some of the features of upgrading are shown in below video :-

Basics of Offshore Well drilling

Common drilling of wells are two basic types —exploratory, i.e. to find new oil or gas deposits  and development, i.e. to prepare the discovery for production. Water depths range from 50 to 400 feet for jack-up rigs to up to 10,000 feet for semisubmersibles and other types of vessels like drillships.

Before drilling an exploratory well, an operator will conduct geologic surveys of an area to determine the potential for oil or gas deposits. The operator then hires a drilling contractor to drill exploratory (also term “wildcat”) wells offshore. The oil company chooses the location and supervises the operation, which may take as little as 15 days or as long as 12 months to drill a single well depending on the complexity of the project.

Offshore rigs are designed for efficiency in living and working, with emphasis on keeping the rig steady in gulf or ocean waters. Offshore wells are drilled in much the same way as their onshore or typical landrigs  —with several allowances for the offshore environment. A string of tubes made from lengths of steel pipe permits drilling fluids to move between the rig—at the water’s surface—and the sea floor. This tube is called a “riser.” Such riser exists only on deepsea semi drilling, as for jackups, we normally call them drill string. The riser is fitted with ball-and-slip joints that permit the long string of riser pipe to move up and down and bend slightly with the wave-induced movement of the rig.

The well is drilled using a length of slender steel pipes and other tools that, connected, comprise a “drill string.” At the bottom of the string of pipes is a hole-boring device called a “drill bit.” Heavy sections of pipe, called “drill collars,” add weight and stability to the drill bit. Each ordinary pipe in the string is about 30 feet long and weighs few hundred pounds; drill collars can weigh 4,000 Pounds or more per 30-foot length.

As drilling proceeds, and the well gets deeper, the drilling crew adds new sections of drill pipe to the ever-lengthening drill string. Hydraulic devices keep constant tension on the drill string to prevent the motion of the rig and riser from being transmitted to the drill bit.

The drill string is lowered through the riser to the sea floor ( this is the case for semi drilling), passing through a system of safety valves called a “blowout preventer” (BOP, pronounced “B.O.P.”). This stack of multiple safety valves is designed to contain any natural pressures that the drillers might encounter beneath the Earth’s surface. Its purpose is to prevent a possible “blowout”—an uncontrolled eruption of oil, gas or wellbore fluids due to excessive natural pressure.

 
Basics to Drilling_choong