Here is a video of the West Auriga, one of the Drillships I supervised in the Gulf of Mexico (GoM). The video was taken as she was departing Korea en route to the Gulf of Mexico (Courtesy of SeaDrill and Samsung). The massive scale of these deepwater drilling operations is something I always find difficult to describe. Hopefully, this video provides some perspective.

The ship is 748 feet long, can accommodate 200 people, and has 6 thrusters that allow it to be dynamically positioned (stay at, or move to a specific set of coordinates) using GPS. It has 4 knuckle boom cranes that can load and offload equipment onto offshore supply vessels. One of the cranes is motion-compensated and used to install subsea infrastructure on the seafloor. The derrick is 210 feet tall and has two drill centers for dual activity operations. The main drill center can lift up to 2.5 million pounds. The rig is capable of drilling wells in up to 12,000 feet of water to a total depth of 37,500 feet. A three-story tall blow out preventer (series of high-pressure valves that can close around different size pipes) is installed on top of the subsea wellhead to protect the drillship from oil and gas explosions. Transportation to and from the Drillship is by helicopter or crew boat.

Supervising drilling and completion operations in the GoM required leadership skills, logistical planning, and a lot of problem-solving. The stakes are high when a company is paying over a million dollars a day to operate a drillship like the one above. Many things can go wrong often requiring quick and decisive decision-making to prevent disaster. One example is stuck pipe. On a memorable occasion, I received a call from the Driller, who operates the drilling rig, telling me that the drill pipe was stuck. I instructed him to hold tight and that I would be up to help him out. When I arrived, it was clear that he was nervous and unsure of what to do next. To lighten the moment, I smiled and confidently let him know that these things happen and that we would fix the problem. I asked him a few questions to assess the situation. I then calmly guided him through each step to free the pipe explaining why I was telling him to do it. Ultimately the driller was successful in freeing the drill pipe. I let him know that he did a great job and gave him credit during the next day's pre-shift meeting. Freeing the pipe prevented a costly series of operations from taking place that would have significantly increased the cost of the well.