On Board The Develoment Driller II Relief Well Rig
On Saturday August 7th 2010 I was assigned to probably my coolest assignment since I began coverage of the oil spill for my client Bloomberg. It took over a month of trying but I finally was able to schedule a seat on a helicopter through the Joint Information Center in New Orleans to go out and land on one of the two rigs that were drilling a relief well at the site of the Deep Water Horizon explosion. It would be kind of surreal that I would be standing on a rig much like the one that sank to the floor of the Gulf of Mexico just over 100 days earlier, I had never been on a rig myself and I was one of the few photographers that had been allowed aboard. As far as I had seen over the last three months only TIME Magazine, Associated Press and Getty Images photographers had been aboard, so I knew I had to make the most of my approximately two hour opportunity on the rig.
The view from the heli-deck of the Transocean Development Driller II rig leased by BP Plc which is drilling a backup relief well at the BP Plc Macondo well site in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana, U.S., on Saturday, August 7, 2010. BP successfully used the ‘static kill’, procedure pumping mud into the top of the damaged well, BP plans now to finish a relief well to permanently plug the well by mid-August. Photographer: Derick E. Hingle/Bloomberg
I started the day leaving my home in Hammond, Louisiana at 6:00am for the drive to the BP Heliport at PHI in Houma, La., where all the media heading out to the rig had to go through a rig safety briefing before being allowed to board the helicopter bound for the rig. On the trip the media had to wear the proper PPE (Personal Protection Equipment) to go out to the rig, so I had to purchase a hard hat, safety glasses, steel toed shoes and gloves prior to going on the trip. The gloves presented the biggest problem since I am not used to wearing gloves I didn’t have the same feel for my camera and it caused me a few issues, but I worked around them.
So anyways, the media including myself with Bloomberg two reporters with Fortune Magazine, a reporter and photographer with the Baton Rouge Advocate and a videographer and reporter with KHOU a Houston based news channel boarded the helicopter for out approximately one hour flight to the rig, I’m not sure exactly how long it actually took since wearing a metal band watch was banned and my cell phone was turned off while on the rig.
Before we landed on the rig the helicopter made a couple of passes around the rig and the surrounding vessels at the source.
Once the helicopter landed on board I noticed out of my window a worker in a fire suit, his job apparently is to fight a fire and attempt to rescue anyone should a helicopter crash when landing on the heli-deck of the rig.
A worker on fire watch as a helicopter lands on board the Transocean Development Driller II rig leased by BP Plc which is drilling a backup relief well at the BP Plc Macondo well site in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana, U.S., on Saturday, August 7, 2010. BP successfully used the ‘static kill’, procedure pumping mud into the top of the damaged well, BP plans now to finish a relief well to permanently plug the well by mid-August. Photographer: Derick E. Hingle/Bloomberg
Luckily, the helicopter landed safely and all he did was watch us come in for a landing, I thought it made a cool picture so I thought I would share it.
After everyone about was able to get off the helicopter we were are hustled into a room for a briefing before a tour of the rig could commence. The crew aboard the rig had a nice selection of snacks and drinks for us when we arrived and after a few minutes the media along for the embed was briefed on the rules while aboard the rig and we were checked in and given visitors badges.
Finally it was out to tour this floating vessel, the facility is massive, it doesn’t seem like it from the air flying over the rig, but once aboard the size is noticeable. I don’t know the exact specifications of the facility but it seemed like it was at least a 50-yard square facility. But as soon as I got outside my lenses fogged up from the change in temperatures of being inside the facility for a briefing.
Once my camera and lenses adjusted to the change in temperature if was able to start taking some photos. My first photos were of the massive derrick of the well, that is the steel structure that rises into the air and the drilling pipe is loaded and lowered to drill the well. The sun was directly overhead and I was shooting wide so I adjusted my settings to silhouette the derrick of the rig with the sky overhead.
Signage for Transocean is seen on the derrick of the Transocean Development Driller II rig leased by BP Plc which is drilling a backup relief well at the BP Plc Macondo well site in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana, U.S., on Saturday, August 7, 2010. BP successfully used the ‘static kill’, procedure pumping mud into the top of the damaged well, BP plans now to finish a relief well to permanently plug the well by mid-August. Photographer: Derick E. Hingle/Bloomberg
Next the tour moved to the drilling floor, where I was basically under the structure that you saw in the previous image, the well site leader for the rig with BP Mickey Fruge led the way as our tour guide throughout the facility.
The Development Driller II rig was in a standby mode and was no longer drilling at the time I boarded, the Development Driller III rig located about 1/2 mile away was close to completing their relief well and the DD II was there as a backup in case something were to go wrong.
BP Plc well site leader Mickey Fruge talks to reporters on the drill floor on board the Transocean Development Driller II rig leased by BP Plc which is drilling a backup relief well at the BP Plc Macondo well site in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana, U.S., on Saturday, August 7, 2010. BP successfully used the ‘static kill’, procedure pumping mud into the top of the damaged well, BP plans now to finish a relief well to permanently plug the well by mid-August. Photographer: Derick E. Hingle/Bloomberg
Below are some additional photos from the drill floor, unfortunately I was unable to go inside the drill shack where workers control drilling operations because there were some overhead operations that closed off that area during out visit.
The photo below was as close as I could get to being at the center underneath the derrick of the rig, a chain closing off the area prevented me from getting any closer.
A view from the drilling floor on board the Transocean Development Driller II rig leased by BP Plc which is drilling a backup relief well at the BP Plc Macondo well site in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana, U.S., on Saturday, August 7, 2010. Photographer: Derick E. Hingle/Bloomberg
The drilling shack of drilling control room is seen behind the mechanism used to drill on board the Transocean Development Driller II rig leased by BP Plc which is drilling a backup relief well at the BP Plc Macondo well site in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana, U.S., on Saturday, August 7, 2010. Photographer: Derick E. Hingle/Bloomberg
After viewing the drilling floor we crossed over to the opposite side of the rig to an area called the ‘moon pool’ where you can see where the riser pipe goes down below the surface where it connects with the well head a mile below the surface.
A riser pipe that connects to the well head 5000 feet below the surface is seen from the moon pool on board the Transocean Development Driller II rig leased by BP Plc which is drilling a backup relief well at the BP Plc Macondo well site in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana, U.S., on Saturday, August 7, 2010. Photographer: Derick E. Hingle/Bloomberg
From this end of the rig, there was a platform where the Development Driller III rig and other vessels working at the source could be viewed, I was also able to get a nice wide shot of the deck of the rig from that vantage point.
The Transocean Development Driller III rig leased by BP Plc which is drilling the primary relief well at the BP Plc Macondo well site in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana, U.S., on Saturday, August 7, 2010. Photographer: Derick E. Hingle/Bloomberg
The derrick is seen from the deck on board the Transocean Development Driller II rig leased by BP Plc which is drilling a backup relief well at the BP Plc Macondo well site in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana, U.S., on Saturday, August 7, 2010. Photographer: Derick E. Hingle/Bloomberg
Continuing around the rig I noticed some workers doing some maintenance work on the rig so I shot a few images, as I said before the rig is in a standby mode right now so there was not ongoing drilling.
Workers with Transocean perform maintenance on board the Transocean Development Driller II rig leased by BP Plc which is drilling a backup relief well at the BP Plc Macondo well site in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana, U.S., on Saturday, August 7, 2010. Photographer: Derick E. Hingle/Bloomberg
A worker with Transocean cools off with a bottle of water as he performs maintenance on board the Transocean Development Driller II rig leased by BP Plc which is drilling a backup relief well at the BP Plc Macondo well site in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana, U.S., on Saturday, August 7, 2010. Photographer: Derick E. Hingle/Bloomberg
From each side I tried to get a photo showing an overall of the deck of the rig, with this shot below I was able to include some piping laying on the deck into the photo.
Pipe is seen on the deck near the derrick on the Transocean Development Driller II rig leased by BP Plc which is drilling a backup relief well at the BP Plc Macondo well site in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana, U.S., on Saturday, August 7, 2010. BP successfully used the ‘static kill’, procedure pumping mud into the top of the damaged well, BP plans now to finish a relief well to permanently plug the well by mid-August. Photographer: Derick E. Hingle/Bloomberg
As I continued around I noticed a red Halliburton tank so I asked one of the workers what it was for and it was explained to me that was the mixing tank for cement that is pumped down to plug a well. This is potentially an important photo due to it being linked to Halliburton a company that is pretty difficult to get photos of.
A Halliburton cement mixing tank on board the Transocean Development Driller II rig leased by BP Plc which is drilling a backup relief well at the BP Plc Macondo well site in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana, U.S., on Saturday, August 7, 2010. Photographer: Derick E. Hingle/Bloomberg
Next we went down a deck and passed by the emergency escape boats for the DD II rig that personnel would escape the rig in the event of an emergency on board. Unbelievably over 80 people are capable of fitting into these water tight vessels.
One of the emergency escape boats with a capacity of 88 persons that can be deployed from on board the Transocean Development Driller II rig leased by BP Plc which is drilling a backup relief well at the BP Plc Macondo well site in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana, U.S., on Saturday, August 7, 2010. Photographer: Derick E. Hingle/Bloomberg
The entrance hatch for an emergency escape boat with a capacity of 88 persons that can be deployed from on board the Transocean Development Driller II rig leased by BP Plc which is drilling a backup relief well at the BP Plc Macondo well site in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana, U.S., on Saturday, August 7, 2010. Photographer: Derick E. Hingle/Bloomberg
The tour would end in the bridge, where the crew controls just about everything aboard the rig from steering the vessel and keeping it in place to monitoring systems throughout the vast piping and valves that go to the sea floor.
Control panels inside the bridge on board the Transocean Development Driller II rig leased by BP Plc which is drilling a backup relief well at the BP Plc Macondo well site in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana, U.S., on Saturday, August 7, 2010. Photographer: Derick E. Hingle/Bloomberg
A Transocean worker in the bridge on board the Transocean Development Driller II rig leased by BP Plc which is drilling a backup relief well at the BP Plc Macondo well site in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana, U.S., on Saturday, August 7, 2010. Photographer: Derick E. Hingle/Bloomberg
BP Plc well site leader Mickey Fruge explains a control panel that can operate many feature on board the Transocean Development Driller II rig leased by BP Plc which is drilling a backup relief well at the BP Plc Macondo well site in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana, U.S., on Saturday, August 7, 2010. Photographer: Derick E. Hingle/Bloomberg
That was all for the tour, our time was up, and it was back to the helicopter for the ride back home, but before I left I had one more photo in mind. I noticed when we got off the helicopter upon arrival that the deck of the heli-pad had the name of the rig, I wanted to incorporate the name on the heli-pad into a wide angle shot of the rig.
The heli-pad on board the Transocean Development Driller II rig leased by BP Plc which is drilling a backup relief well at the BP Plc Macondo well site in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana, U.S., on Saturday, August 7, 2010. Photographer: Derick E. Hingle/Bloomberg
The shot didn’t work out perfectly, part of the blade of the helicopter is visible in the shot, I tried several angles and that was the best I could get, but I left with a lot of images I was happy with and was pretty excited that not very many other photographers had ever been on board before. The trip made for yet another memorable experience in my adventures as a photographer and possibly my last assignment with the BP Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Until the next time.
