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Gold/Mining/Energy : Strictly: Drilling and oil-field services -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Lee Fredrickson who wrote (6168)	12/27/1997 1:18:00 PM
From: John Guild	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 95453

Thanks for the feed-back. I've saved this letter for many years waiting for those who were involved to pass on, in one way or another. They all have so I'm now releasing it. The Hudson Bay (HB) actually existed and this letter was actually written and sent by its author- Ed Davis. In my opinion, this letter stands out as true oil field classic. The story behind the HB is interesting. In 1981, Ed Davis- Amoco Drilling Supervisor was sent to Gabon to set up offshore drilling operations. It was important that a well be spudded before the end of 1981 otherwise the lease would be lost. While Ed was setting up shop in Gabon, the Houston office worked to find Ed a suitable rig. Unfortunately, the boom was still on (albeit beginning to die) and the only jackup rig available world-wide was the HB. However, the HB was sunk and resting on the sea bed near the Suez Canal. Nevertheless, it was raised and mobilized to Gabon by way of Spain. While in Spain it was crewed and refurbished. The crew was, in part, Spanish convicts. As you can imagine it was a piece of junk. Ed was very frustrated, as was everyone who was assigned to work the rig. We had one occasion where a well blewout after hitting a shallow gas sand. The sand finally bridged off. The blowout never caught fire but the rig was covered in oil, mud and gunk. To clean it, a fire boat was pull up along side and proceeded wash the rig down for several days. After this, everyone went back to work and finished the well, ah! The field was very close to shore. It was so close that the locals would paddle out and climb aboard to sun themselves on the helideck or on top of the quarters. One day the rig supervisor (Nelson Lowe) shut the rig down to do a head count; there were more locals on board than crew! Nelson ran the lot off! (Nelson has since passed away, bless his heart.) The HB drilled in Gabon for Amoco for many years. Today, the HB is again resting peacefully on the sea bed, this time offshore Gabon. Ed Davis left Amoco. O.D. Gaither retired. George Trump passed away. Ed Sigurdson I lost track of. Same with Giles Acker and the rig contractor Eric Watson. Chuck Allen is still around as is Tom Rankin. ...and me, well I'm left with some sweat memories of long lost days. Take Care All, John Guild Houston, Texas