In August 2004, I was on my way to Stavangar to attend the Offshore exhibition ( similar to that of OTC yearly held in Houston, though I had been to Houston many times but never been to OTC ever ) and I had made a purpose stopover trip to London Heathrow Terminal 3 for the first time to meet up Leonard Roe ( Len, in short after we known each other ) for an interview to be our drilling engineer. I got to know Len through his "Workover" drilling website and found him likely suitable candidate to fill our company's vacant post after speaking to some other candidates of similiar triats and experience. A fit British army in old days, Len was a toolpusher in the early 70s' and had worked for Maersk back then. I landed at Heathrow airport, it was usual over crowded and packed and but somehow it was not that difficult to find Leonard at one of the counters where you book for a cab. At first sight, Len gave me the impression of the "roughneck" type with strong and big physique. We had some food in the hotel cafe and then we move on for an "informal" interview. Len showed me his past credentials and his working experiences and his current work as drilling well control instructor and presenter. He had given me some of powerpoint presentations and he showed me very keenly and proudly his work, how he did his animations in powerpoint. I had the whole night assessing and understanding his working experience and his knowledge in well control and offshore drilling. Flew back to office after the purposed trip and discussed about Len's work to our management. After some track record checks and reviews, we finally hired Len in November that year. Len left us 2010 and had to return UK to further his treatment on his throat and I have no idea of his present condition whether he is improving or not. He has a son in the twenties and wife is in home care due to old age. Hope Len is still around and busy with his stuff on his website, www.drillfloor.com
Part of my in-between flight schedules while on way to ONS2004 exhibition:
Wed, Aug 25: SCANDINAVIAN AIRLINES, SK 0505
From: COPENHAGEN, DENMARK (CPH) map Departs: 2:55pm Departure Terminal: TERMINAL 3 Gate: Check for latest information
To: LONDON HEATHROW, UNITED KINGDOM (LHR) map Arrives: 3:50pm
Aircraft: MCDONNELL DOUGLAS MD-90 JET Mileage: 594
Flight Time: 1 hours and 55 minutes
Thu, Aug 26: SCANDINAVIAN AIRLINES, SK 2520
From: LONDON HEATHROW, UNITED KINGDOM (LHR) map Departs: 10:45am
Departure Terminal: TERMINAL 3 Gate: Check for latest information
To: STAVANGER, NORWAY (SVG) map Arrives: 1:30pm
Aircraft: BOEING 737 JET Mileage: 554
Flight Time: 1 hours and 45 minutes
Leonard T. Roe
Offsite involvement included, sitting in on meeting with customers, checking and suggesting the rearrangement of drawings and layouts, writing seminars and lectures for both management and engineers as and when needed. Such seminars were run in Singapore, Abu-Dubai, and India. And would often include both yard personal and many of their customers.
Leonard was a freelance training instructor and consultant compiling and instructing/teaching aids for distant learning classes on rig design and functions while recovering from cancer, many of the subject can be seen below.
Some of his Lessons written in the past include:
Casing and Cementing
Fishing tools and their functions
Stripping and Snubbing
Bops' Atmospheric d-gasser and the Accumulator, kill and choke manifolds
Drill string Design
The circulating system
Drilling Hydraulic
Oil well completions and Workover
Introduction to casing while drilling
Rig Safety
Workover operations
Ton miles and wire line safety
Bulk Storage Systems
Mud Mixing system
Solid control systems Mud Cleaning and shaker area including D-gassers
Top Drive
Rotating Mouse Holes
Fox Holes
Pipe Deck Machines
Power Slips, PS30, PS21, PS16
Iron Roughneck TS80, AD4500, AD3200, Jim
Hydraulic Cat Heads
Hydraulic Power Units
Hydraulic stabbing boards
High Pressure Piping Systems this includes Valves, All manufactures
Conductor Tensioning Units (CTU)
Diverters Vetcogray and Cameron
Rig Pumps (fluid end and power end)
The crown and crown block assembles
The Stand Pipe Manifold
The choke Manifold
The trip Tank design an function
I have uploaded here some of Len's work below which he has given personally to me for sharing,
( P/s the correctness of the information here below are not being counter-checked and to be used with discretion ) :
Rig Controls at Drill Floor
Bulk Mud System
Optimizing Solids Control
Iron Roughneck
Slush Pumps
Top drive
What is an Accumulator1
Underbalanced Drilling
Surface Cement
RC Bits
Casing 2
Gas Cut Mud
Liners
Deepwater BOP Riser
Diverter Systems
Well Head
