This time with PDO. The last time I had anything to do with PDO was in the mid 80s when I was an Observer with Geosource. Things have moved on a lot since then.
Now crews have an almost 100 fold increase in channel count – ~240 channels in the mid 80’s compared to 15000 channels for the crew I was on, and around 20000 for their other crew. PDO are also using DS3, a technique they pioneered. It is an interesting idea that would not have been possible a few years ago. To be honest I am still a little skeptical, but there is no doubt that production is improved dramatically. And from a technical point of view far better than ISS.
It’s good to be back at work though, especially after 5 months off. And PDO have asked me to work on an interesting QC project which should keep me quite busy for a while.
The crew I was on was BGP, and as always with BGP, very comfortable and the people very cooperative. Other than my often stated complaint of insufficient technical support, the only criticism I would have is that like any big crew that has been operating for many years with the same client, they are a little bit stagnant in their way of thinking. Some issues that are obvious to someone new are simply accepted as normal because that is the way it has always been.
Hopefully we can work together to improve, assuming I don’t fall into the same trap and stagnate myself!
Oman itself has changed in the year since I was last there. Although not caught up too much in the violence and upheaval seen over much of the region in the last year, Oman has been affected.
The most notable thing being the attitude of the working men. Where they used to be reasonably flexible – although understanding the rules very well- now they are very difficult to deal with. The labor now dictate terms to the company and despite major improvements in pay and work schedules are demanding more and more. Much of it unrealistic.
If they continue, they will price themselves out of a job altogether. In fact some contractors have already packed up and left – they just can’t afford the increased operating costs, which are quite significant. Quite sad really, pay and conditions in Oman are very good, and it doesn’t take much to look at neighboring countries to see how well off they truly are.
I hope things settle down, but I feel that Oman might be in for some hard times over the next few years.