"Oman is Beautiful"
This phrase is the environmental safety campaign slogan of the national oil company of Oman. It appears on posters on every wall in the company's offices and facilities. When you look at one of these posters, a picture that looks like it was taken shortly after the invention of color photography, filled with dull and dirty colors, tell a story of anything but a beautiful country. The poster looks like something out of the past, hardly a place of beauty.
But, then, taking a drive throughout the country tells a completely different story. The capital city, consistently underconstruction, a growing city, is perfectly sandwiched between a prestine coast on the Persian Gulf and a dramatic mountain range. The desert, which coincidentally is where the oilfield is located (Why is it the oil is located in very remote areas that require a trying journey to get to?), is reminiscent of a childhood imagination and a hero's journey in a far, far away place. The staggering mountain range between the two is filled with mountains made of pure marble.
Oman is Beautiful.
It may be a place that is so dry and so foreign compared to back home, but it's beautiful villages and lush oasis's pocked throughout the region tell a different story.
That story, however, is one to tell over a camp fire and a homemade meal. A story that is easier heard than read.
The story that I will tell you is to answer a simple question, "What in the world is a nine-to-five, twenty three year old engineer doing in the desert on the other end of the globe?" Let me tell you about one of the many "hats" that I wear:
This hat is one of action, one of implementation, one of testing, and one of impressing.
This is the part of the job that I get the joy and the excitement and the experience of seeing my project drill a well.
What do I mean by that?
Ok let's rewind just a bit and let me tell you about my project with National Oilwell Varco. I am the lead engineer of a commercialized software that ties into drill rigs control systems and executes high-level autmated decision making in order to optimize drilling performance.
Phew. That was a lot of big words that don't really say much.
The software aims to combine field experience with engineering expertise to make a drill rig drill ahead at maximum efficiency by searching for and selecting the best input parameters.
In the world of motor sports, this type of software would combine the knowledge and experience of the driver with the expertise of mechanical engineers to get the fastest lap times with less direct input from the driver. Formula 1 exactually has rules against this because the human element is a huge part of the entertainment and competition of racing.
That leads us to "why" I am here. I am here because this is the first time that this optimization package will drill a well in the Middle East region. Oman has a strict data law that won't allow us to do any sort of remote monitoring and support. My roll is to provide the engineering supervision and support of the tool onsite and to train the local engineers to do the same.
That is the explanation of the story but not the story itself. Our team had an equipment failure that prevents my project from controlling the drill rig itself. Unfortunately, we cannot make any repairs until they get to the end of this section in the well and run casing. While they are waiting on the cement to harden, we will get an opportunity to make the repairs. After that, we can get back to drilling.
Until then, grilling with the team in Muscat:
This phrase is the environmental safety campaign slogan of the national oil company of Oman. It appears on posters on every wall in the company's offices and facilities. When you look at one of these posters, a picture that looks like it was taken shortly after the invention of color photography, filled with dull and dirty colors, tell a story of anything but a beautiful country. The poster looks like something out of the past, hardly a place of beauty.
But, then, taking a drive throughout the country tells a completely different story. The capital city, consistently underconstruction, a growing city, is perfectly sandwiched between a prestine coast on the Persian Gulf and a dramatic mountain range. The desert, which coincidentally is where the oilfield is located (Why is it the oil is located in very remote areas that require a trying journey to get to?), is reminiscent of a childhood imagination and a hero's journey in a far, far away place. The staggering mountain range between the two is filled with mountains made of pure marble.
Oman is Beautiful.
It may be a place that is so dry and so foreign compared to back home, but it's beautiful villages and lush oasis's pocked throughout the region tell a different story.
That story, however, is one to tell over a camp fire and a homemade meal. A story that is easier heard than read.
The story that I will tell you is to answer a simple question, "What in the world is a nine-to-five, twenty three year old engineer doing in the desert on the other end of the globe?" Let me tell you about one of the many "hats" that I wear:
This hat is one of action, one of implementation, one of testing, and one of impressing.
This is the part of the job that I get the joy and the excitement and the experience of seeing my project drill a well.
What do I mean by that?
Ok let's rewind just a bit and let me tell you about my project with National Oilwell Varco. I am the lead engineer of a commercialized software that ties into drill rigs control systems and executes high-level autmated decision making in order to optimize drilling performance.
Phew. That was a lot of big words that don't really say much.
The software aims to combine field experience with engineering expertise to make a drill rig drill ahead at maximum efficiency by searching for and selecting the best input parameters.
In the world of motor sports, this type of software would combine the knowledge and experience of the driver with the expertise of mechanical engineers to get the fastest lap times with less direct input from the driver. Formula 1 exactually has rules against this because the human element is a huge part of the entertainment and competition of racing.
That leads us to "why" I am here. I am here because this is the first time that this optimization package will drill a well in the Middle East region. Oman has a strict data law that won't allow us to do any sort of remote monitoring and support. My roll is to provide the engineering supervision and support of the tool onsite and to train the local engineers to do the same.
That is the explanation of the story but not the story itself. Our team had an equipment failure that prevents my project from controlling the drill rig itself. Unfortunately, we cannot make any repairs until they get to the end of this section in the well and run casing. While they are waiting on the cement to harden, we will get an opportunity to make the repairs. After that, we can get back to drilling.
Until then, grilling with the team in Muscat:
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