And back to another Green Hornet….[ATTACH=CONFIG]216300[/ATTACH]

Oh B*gger….Look at my location and you’ll see why !!!

Luckily I keep a relatively small amount of money in my accounts on the island and have done since Greece found itself in major trouble ( 2 of the larger Cypriot banks lost a lot due to the problems in Greece). Currently down in the Persian Gulf at the moment so can’t even get near a cash machine to lower the amont of forced levy I’ll have to pay – b*gger again !!!

However, I understand that share bonds in the banks will be issued to the value of cash taken from accounts – if the large offshore gas find (estimated at more than the whole country could use in more than 100 years so export opportunities there) are handled in the right way, the ecomony could be on a major upward turn in 4 or 5 years so there’s a chance that we could recoup monies lost just now. Even possible that we may gain in the long term. Time will tell.

I do feel for the folks that have retired there and have all their savings there, but there is the balancing arguement that had they kept their money in the UK, they would not have benefitted from the high interest rates of recent years in Cyprus, not to mention the lower tax regime.

Swings…roundabouts…..guess we will all have differing views on that, but the one thing that will leave a sour taste in the mouths of many is the morality of the manner in which it has been handled.

Might want to concentrate on how to position an Oil Rig jacket first !! This was a few days ago a bit further up the Persian Gulf from where I am at the moment:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0ErhIljTXo

A viewpoint from a worker offshore in the North Sea (of which I was one for the best part of 20 years before I moved abroad):

The Urine Test. (This was written by a rig worker in the North Sea – What he says makes a lot of sense!)

I work, they pay me. I pay my taxes and the government distributes my taxes as it sees fit.

In order to earn my income, I work on a rig, isolated, away from my family for 6 months a year, often in harsh weather for a Drilling Contractor. For this I am (I admit) well paid.

In order to allow me to continue in my job I am required to pass a random urine test for drugs and alcohol, (which can be requested of me at any time) with which I have no problem.

What I do have a problem with is the distribution of my taxes to people who don’t have to pass a urine test.

Shouldn’t one have to pass a urine test to get a benefits cheque, because I have to pass one to earn it for them ?

Please understand that I have no problem with helping people get back on their feet. I do on the other hand have a problem with helping someone sit on their backside, who by choice does not want to work, drinking beer and smoking dope.

Could you imagine how much money the government would save if people had to pass a urine test to get a benefit cheque?

The Cyprus Shacks are 10 minutes down the road from me. A couple of pics of ‘747 and ‘757 from late last year, looking faded and forlorn. Also parked up behind them is a Dassault Flamant.

Loose-Head.

I didn’t know until a few days ago, there are 600 decomissioned rigs that need to be dismantled, but no one will take the job on, so they are just being left to rot away,

Jim.
Lincoln .7

Jim, Charliehunt.

Thanks for the heads up on the maps, will certainly be taking a nosey at them.

Decomissioning a rig comes in 2 basic stages. Firstly the abandonment of the wells. Abandoning a well is a relatively simple process although experience has taught me that when dealing with things that you can’t see up to 30,000 feet below the earths surface that something will invariably try and ‘bite you in the ****’ !!
There are 2 basic types of wells. Producers and water injectors. A producer does just that, produces oil / gas. However in a lot of older wells, the natural reservoir pressure reduces over a period of time and another well will be drilled into the same formation. This well will inject water to force as much of the recoverable oil out as possible. This means that we get a mix of hydrocarbons and water back at surface from the producing well, which is not a problem as the platform has a ‘seperation train’ that does exactly what it says – seperates the water from the oil.
Unfortunately there are by-products from this practice to consider such as LSA (low specific activity) scale which is radioactive by nature, Co2, H2s, biocides etc etc. These will normally all be present in the pipe work on the platorm topsides where the basic refining process of the hydrocarbons takes place before being pumped back to town. This is the major barrier when it comes to de-commissioning the rig – costly, environmentally unfriendly, and a political hot potato if you get it wrong. no wonder the operators stay away from it for as long as they can !!

Fortunately (for me) I deal on the well’s side of things, and not decommissioning !!!

As for the response from the SAR, shipping etc, personally (although these days I’ve swapped the North Sea for the Middle East) I’m glad that such a response was swift and comprehensive. Sometimes you can feel pretty exposed out there and knowing that the back-up is there when needed is comforting.

The platform that had the leak was the Cormorant Alpha (one of my old stomping grounds) a former Shell asset now operated by Taqa Bratani. A number of the platforms in the Shetland Basin hook into the same pipeline system – which meets land at St Fergus in the N-East of Scotland – and would have been shut down purely as a precaution (a lesson learned the hard way after Piper Alpha where two platforms that were linked back to piper continued pumping after the initial explosions, thus exacerbating the situation). The other platforms were not evacuated.

The concrete gravity base of the Cormorant Alpha ( from which the 4 legs rise is designed to store 1,000,000 barrels of oil. The legs are hollow and accessible. The leak (which was reportedly very small) could have come from something as relatively minor as a leaking valve. I understand that the gas detectors were set off after detecting gas vapours emitted from the leaked crude oil.

Tame? That’s not the word that came to mind when I saw it at Southport a couple of weeks ago. F—ing brilliant might be better and I speak as someone who saw Vulcans display in the ’70s including four-ship scrambles. A couple of non-aviating mates with me at Southport were mightily impressed as well.

What is it about the so called aviation enthusiasts on these forums who constantly want to decry such a magnificant achievement as the VTTS project?

Joe,

If you take the time to read my post again, you might notice that I stated that it was a privelege to see her in the sky, and also my wish to see her there for as long as it can be managed. With this in mind, and as one who has contributed to the trust on several occasions I’m curious as to how you come to the conclusion that I am ‘decrying’ the achievement of 558 continuing to have air under her wings.