WorldWide Drilling Resource

Tales from the Field by Jeremy C. Wire Geoconsultants, Inc. A Cement Job that Should NOT have Happened Sometimes, visitors or inspectors from regulating agencies learn the “hard” way that being too close to drilling operations can result in unintended consequences, mostly not good. One such incident recently occurred to an inspector during installation of a cement seal around the conductor casing for a deep water well. In this case, there was a cement pumping unit with a large hopper into which the transit mix trucks discharged their loads by a chute, and the cement mix employed in this operation was very fluid. As the work was progressing, the inspector arrived and parked his government car in what he apparently thought was a safe area, but close to the pumping unit. After a while, a very fluid load was being emptied into the hopper, and as sometimes happens, a big surge of cement rushed down the chute and overflowed the hopper. Cement went flying in all directions, quite a bit ending up on the side of the inspector’s car. Shortly thereafter, when there was a break in the cementing operation, so the drill crew dutifully cleaned off as much of the material as they could. The inspector then decided to go to lunch, and perhaps visit a car wash, as he thought it might not be prudent to return the car to the motor pool in its present condition. He returned to the jobsite later in the afternoon. By this time, room for parking was limited because of space needed for some equipment, and he ended up parking near the pumping unit again. Since the temperature was getting very warm, he left the passenger side door partly open for ventilation. As the next cement load was being emptied into the hopper, another surge of cement - of greater volume than the previous one - hit the side of the car. However, this time with the door partly open, a lot of cement got inside, covering part of the seat, side panel of the door, into vent openings, and elsewhere. What a mess! This time, efforts by the drill crew to help clean it up were generally futile and the cement was starting to set up. Since the cementing operation was ending anyway, the inspector decided the best course of action was to leave and return the car to the motor pool as quickly as possible for cleanup by the maintenance crew. The next time we met this same inspector on another project, we recalled the incident, but he did not reveal the words which may have been said when the car was returned to the motor pool! However, he did note that he learned a lesson the “hard” way that day, and would never again park near a cement pumping unit when the operation was underway. Jeremy Jeremy Wire may be contacted via e-mail to michele@worldwidedrillingresource.com ! " # ! WorldWide Drilling Resource ® 7 DECEMBER 2017