Dogs, cats, mice, and even monkeys feel at home on a modern oil platform. But how did this circus come about amidst pipes, steel cables, and noisy pumps?
“No idea,” laughs Thomas Tuschl, Drilling Engineer. “I just know that the terms are short, easy to remember and to visualize, and they considerably simplify communication between colleagues.” This standardized terminology is a great help, especially with the fast turnover of international personnel.
Animal terms are part of the technical jargon on the oil platform. They are short, easy to remember and to visualize. A great help in an international environment. Thomas Tuschl, Senior Drilling Engineer at OMV
We’ll explain the most important animal terms:
A mouse hole has room for a lot more than just a little mouse; there’s space for an entire pipe. The pipe is stored temporarily in a mouse hole until it can be connected to a drill string.
The working platform that the technician climbs around on when installing and removing drill strings is called a monkey board. However, the safety regulations there are much stricter for people than they are in the wild.
The catwalk is like a runway for pipelines: It is part of the “pick up & lay down” equipment. This is where the pipes are laid out and then lifted up onto the working platform.
Pups and ponies are not just little animals, they’re also little pipes. These are used to adjust the length of rods. As support for the large animals, so to speak.
The goose neck is a bent pipe that can make a 180 degree change in direction. In this way it is just as flexible as a real goose’s neck.
The doghouse not only protects dogs from the weather, but also tools and engineers. It can even be used as a temporary office. Unlike a normal doghouse, this doghouse is located directly on the working platform instead of the ground. It can be seen here as a container on the same level as the working platform.
A pig feels at home in the dirt. So, as soon as a pipeline gets dirty, all we need to do is push this cleaning device through it, and it’s clean again.
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