Roughnecks: Oil Rig Workers

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On a bright, sunny, but breezy afternoon, I made my way out towards Mad Dog 4, an oilrig. The derrick, by definition is, a tower on top of the rig used as a crane at times for moving heavy equipment, but mostly for moving the pipe in and out of the hole, which is being drilled. It rises up from the middle of a field, standing tall and white, like the Eiffel Tower, surrounded by large blue, yellow, or white containers. There is a small sign, letting anyone know that this is the entrance of Cade 21; the dirt path is made from all the trucks, which move the rig to its current location. There are approximately 30 different companies, which assist in making the location, where the rig stands. The average speed going down this path is 10 MPH if any of the supervisors see dirt flying, someone will be in trouble. This path is only wide enough for one vehicle, so sometimes it is a bit of a wait, to go in the opposite direction. Since its virgin ground, meaning it has not been traversed much, it is a bumpy, rough ride to the rig.

Several large oversized containers surround the oilrig, most look like rail cars, seen on the trains as they pass upon the tracks, and are considered buildings. These buildings serve from anything such as a room for someone to mix gel and caustic with the mud, along with a platform where a Peak company man goes to from time to time to check out these mud mixtures. This is an important step, because the fluids are there to lessen the friction of the drill bit churning into the Earth, it acts as a lubricant. There are other rail cars used for such things as a boiler room, which creates the steam lines; along with one called the lighthouse, where a satellite dish sits on top of, and holds power generators in...

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