Greene County Daily World

This Sure Doesn't Look Like Southfork, JR.

Posted Friday, May 2, 2008, at 6:24 AM
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You guys waiting on me?

At the time that I decided to get out of the Army, my oldest kids were 4 and 1 years young. I was looking at my next assignment in Germany and I thought that it was time to do something different. So I decided to become an oil baron. Just like that, I decided to pull a Jed Clampett and find some of that bubbling crude.

I started to work as a Field Engineer for Schlumberger in November 1980. It was kind of a strange time in our history. A California Governor had just beaten the incumbent President, the railroads were deregulated and Ol' Simmons started looking for oil. I loaded up the family and moved to Corpus Christi to begin my pursuit of riches. At the time I left the service, I was a Captain in the Army and made about $17,000 per year and my first year with Schlumberger, I more than tripled that. Seemed like a no-brainer, so I signed on the dotted line.

Then it all began and it was a whirlwind of training and work. I was sent to Shreveport-Bossier City to study the intricacies of wireline logging. Logging is an interesting concept that was started back in 1927 by Conrad and Marcel Schlumberger in France. The basic principle that the Schlumberger brothers had hit on consisted of lowering a tool into a well that could take measurements of resistivity from the formation. Knowing that water would conduct electricity better than oil, they presumed that higher resistivity indicated that the formation probably was bearing hydrocarbons rather than water. The technology had advanced a great deal from that initial logging venture to the equipment I began working with in 1980. At this time we were able to not only measure resistivity, but we could assess the porosity and permeability of the rock and take solid and fluid samples at various depths along the wellbore.

After my training, I began logging wells all over southeast Texas. My crew consisted of two operators who drove the logging truck, set-up the tools and ran the winch that lowered the tools into the well. I drove to the well site in my blue Schlumberger car (which became my hotel/home for the next two years) and spent most of the time sitting in the airconditioned truck at the computer. I enjoyed getting out and helping put the tool strings together and assisting the operators whenever I could. Oil companies would pay Schlumberger quite a handsome sum for the information that we provided and they were also paying the drilling company to stand by all of the time that we were on site, so we were constantly under pressure to get the job done right and as soon as possible. The information from the logs told the oil companies whether the well was worth producing, as well as where (what depth) and how they should do it.

It was an interesting time for me to be doing this kind of work and under normal circumstances; I think I would have enjoyed it. But these times were not normal at all because the oil companies were drilling wells at an extremely rapid pace that was far beyond what the wireline companies could keep up with at the time. We would pull up on a well site to log a well, which took anywhere from a couple of days to a week, and before we were set-up the dispatcher would be calling requesting a status because of other jobs that were waiting. For weeks, my operators and I would travel from well to well, logging and catching some sleep on site as the time would permit.

We logged mainly for the major oil producers, like Exxon and Texaco, but we also did jobs for small independents and even smaller joint efforts that were truly wildcat experiences. After about a year of logging, I got the opportunity to log on one of these wildcat adventures that was being funded by some doctors and lawyers down around Uvalde. The set-up was poor from the start because they were scrimping on money all the way. The site had a too narrow access road that the logging truck could barely traverse and the pad was so small that we couldn't turn around, so my operators had to back the truck in for over a half a mile. We did manage to get set-up without getting off the caliche and we negotiated the financial terms of the logs on site via radio through our dispatcher to our district headquarters. The drilling company was pure Hispanic and if it had not been for my tutelage under Senor Liston, I'm not sure how we could have coordinated our set-up. The doctors and lawyers had pulled their big Lincoln on site and had opened the bar in the trunk and had begun imbibing prior to us getting the first tool in the hole. My instructions were to notify them when our log came up through their anticipated pay zone, which, I believe was around 5500 feet. Those folks were having a hey-old time out in the dark, just drinking and carrying on while we were inside the truck watching their log. Around 5600 feet, I kicked open the door and yelled at the now inebriated professionals and told them that we were approaching their pay zone. In they came, stumbling drunk with drinks in hand wanting to see if they had struck it rich. The logging screen was rather small and could only be seen well with the lights off, so they milled around bumping into each other and jostling my chair, all trying to get a view of the mother lode on the screen. Just about the time that we came upon a change in the resistivity around 5500 feet, one of the sure handed doctors spilled his drink over me, my keyboard and computer. The logging screen went blank, the tool kept coming up and we had no communications with it. The party kind of dwindled down after that.

We managed to complete this logging effort for the docs and lawyers and they had a small pay zone that probably didn't even pay for their expenses. Me and the boys packed up the truck and went to another job. I learned a lot while logging and made some pretty good money at the same time, but I'd never do that again. After a couple of years, I decided it was time to move on to the production side of the oil business and I'll tell you something about that in the next edition.

Comments
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After a wonderful and entertaining read of Stengel's 1958 testimony I concur that a more thoughtful and careful proofread on my part would have been prudent. It brings to mind another Twain quote; "Man is the only animal that blushes-or needs to."

However, I can make an educated guess that Simmons "luck" has only been as sheer as the material used for printing his resume. I will try to remember; "The most interesting information comes from children, for they tell all they know and then stop."

Mark Twain

-- Posted by B ball fan on Wed, May 7, 2008, at 3:06 AM

The oil plan wasn't really hatched, it came about as a result of several job interviews, which led me in that direction. I went to a job fair in Dallas and had 9 interviews in one day. I came away that day with 8 offers and Schlumberger seemed liked the best of all.

There's never been a great design in my life, it just all seems to fall in place by sheer luck. Like Lou, I may be the luckiest man on the face of this earth.

-- Posted by simmons on Tue, May 6, 2008, at 4:03 AM

To paraphrase Mickey Mantle as he sat next to Casey Stengle at the Senate Anti-trust hearings in 1958, "My views are about the same as B ball fan's."

-- Posted by Chris&Jeremy'sDad on Sun, May 4, 2008, at 9:00 PM

There is another person on earth who wants an explanation of luck. Call Bobby Knight he loves to talk and say "uh" about a thousand times in five minutes trying to convince people that he knows this subject,luck. Education, is the daily struggle to understand things, many things,luck is not one of these things. Many understand why someone would want to know the entire story of oil, and it appears real that the entire story is at this time impossible because the story is not complete, in fact just beginning. To ask one person to reveal this entire story demonstrates this desire for education, although it does seem to be a rather large order. Education does not end with a piece of paper but, merely illuminates there is a desire for knowledge, a noble desire. We have been educated to believe that Jed was lucky, what really happened was he made money, is that really the entire story of luck? Are we lucky when we meet someone we love, back to the definition of luck. Is a definition of luck explained when we hit a hole in one at The Phil, or is this the result of education of the golf swing? Is it luck when it rains when crops need water? In the fifties, probably before that time, but this is when it was revealed to the masses, there were studies,education of what was called salting clouds to induce rain. Was this luck? Is luck really when preparation ends in a wanted result as some proclaim? As I read the first two paragraphs of this blog the entire story of oil in this case is clearly defined. No apologies are required. Now education has revealed to everyone on earth except our President, that the excessive uses of oil has allowed Germany to wait until the earth melts, not hell freezing over. Does someone here know something more than they are willing to reveal? Oil is important to me right now because my old car is leaking a drop or two every week, so I would like a couple of important people to exempt me form the tax on motor oil and not just gasoline, and with this huge savings I will be almost as lucky as Jed, five dollars can be a lot of money if saved properly, compound interest and all. If you will buy me a hamburger today I will gladly repay you on Tuesday.

-- Posted by B ball fan on Sun, May 4, 2008, at 1:04 PM

Luck and education. Did you hatch the oil plan in Alaska, or did the opportunity just arrive at the moment you decided Germany could wait a few more years? I'd like to hear the entire oil story now.

-- Posted by M Boyd on Sun, May 4, 2008, at 8:24 AM

Congrats to Simmons and Big, Big Jon Chaney. Of course you do know that Big Jon Chaney is one of the luckiest people on earth. Just play cards with him, if he needs a card he always seems to get the right one. He is just plain lucky. He is tough to beat. I miss the big guy. And since Simmons was on his team I suppose he must be lucky as well. Hey, Simmons it is difficult to please one person, it is difficult to please oneself, there is no cause to even imagine pleasing everybody. If you are going to try to please anyone make it be you. "I hurt easy, I just don't show it/you can hurt someone and not even know it/and the next sixty seconds can be like an eternity." Bob Dylan, Things Have Changed.

-- Posted by B ball fan on Sun, May 4, 2008, at 3:00 AM

The reason that I offered the apology was because I received an email from a retired wireline operator who expressed some displeasure with my comments. I have a great deal of respect for people who do this kind of work and never had any intention of being disrepectful.

Like they say, you just can't please everybody.

Looks like a great day for Ol'Simmons and Big Jon Chaney to win that 2 man tournament at The Phil. No disrespect to our competitors, but you just might as well stay at home.

-- Posted by simmons on Sat, May 3, 2008, at 7:54 AM

Very interesting blog. I knew some of it beforehand and still found it neat to read about. I can't imagine anyone thinking you explained it in full detail or coming away with the idea that wireline logging is anything less than a very complex, high pressure occupation.

I really do look forward to reading most of the GCdailyworld blogs, makes me feel a little more connected to y'all down south. :-)

-- Posted by Chris&Jeremy'sDad on Sat, May 3, 2008, at 7:27 AM

ya what hopeanddust said! ;)

-- Posted by silerCityDude on Fri, May 2, 2008, at 10:38 PM

Keith, I would guess that 99.9% of us readers don't want a text book breakdown of logging wellbores. I mean gee whiz-you took us from 1927 to 1982-how much more can one expect from a blog?

It's you and your adventure that we want to escape with...

Keep it coming~

-- Posted by hopeanddust on Fri, May 2, 2008, at 9:56 PM

I am sorry if I haven't explained wireline logging sufficiently. It is a much more difficult subject than I portrayed in my few paragraphs above.

For those of you who do this for a living nowadays, I am truly sorry for taking lite of this work from so many years gone by. I have done a lot of things over the years, but none of which were more difficult than what I did for those 2 years with Schlumberger. If I offended anyone by making anyone think that I belittled this type of work, I am sorry. I guess I should quit writing about these things when people are so sensitive to the nature of these events.

-- Posted by simmons on Fri, May 2, 2008, at 9:33 PM

Gee you had your very own Pepsi Syndrome event-- how neet! LOL

You even tied in a friend of my family's as well Senior Liston--we have his tractor :) LOL

Keep up the stories!

-- Posted by silerCityDude on Fri, May 2, 2008, at 6:21 PM

That picture made me think of the Final Jeopardy clue....Alex always turns toward the screen to read it...get a nice shot of the back of his head...just like that one up there of Ol' Simmons.

-- Posted by virginia is for lovers on Fri, May 2, 2008, at 5:53 PM

Your computer stack reminds me of an earlier time when people stopped having their television fixed when it broke, and began to just go and buy new and stack one on top of another. This post also reminds me of my geology course, learning the terms porosity and permeability and the differences of the two terms. Those were the good times, reading and sitting with all those youngsters and wishing I were a youngster too. Dad bought a farm in Greene County and had an oil company or a similar group of people wanting to look for oil and the whole family was there when they getting the core drilling down to that wonderful depth and sitting in that little trailer with the engineer to see if Dad was going to be rich. We all got to look at the samples of soil and sand to look at the little specks of oil that clung to each bead of sand and hear the engineer tell us what each little drop actually meant, in terms of money. Well it was not that much money, and it was not a total disaster, but he did not get rich from the ordeal, but I was fascinated by it all. It did have a bitter sweet ending however because there was a supply of natural gas which did pay for my families utilities for as long as Dad owned the place and all the utilities for the house and buildings Dad built there that continues to this day. Not Jed money but more like maybe Jed's real estate agent's money. Big money to me for sure but considering the vicissitudes that fill my life I can just say "oh well."It was something I would have been delighted with for a while anyway. Please do not block out on me now, do not know if I would need eyes if there was not a Simmons post to read, and of course Joe's observations, and your comments to his. And I would be remiss not to mention C&J's Dad's twist on them and Rambler's and hopeanddust and wiggs, and on and on and on. What they are calling the real news right now is not uplifting at all. C&J's Dad nailed it by mentioning Dave Barry, his articles almost always did the job for me. I believe it is just this seemingly never ending political election season that has me by the throat, and I do make a distinction between think, and believe. As old Sam Clemens said, "the difference be the right word and almost the right word is the difference between lightening and the lightening bug." Simmons and Joe keep those fingertips dancing on those computer keyboards.

-- Posted by B ball fan on Fri, May 2, 2008, at 5:26 PM

"..out on the highway, out on the highway, jellyroll, my job is turning lead into gold.

Can't you hear? Can't you hear that engine moan?

Even my best friends, they don't know that ol' Simmons is searching for the Philosopher's stone."

(Van Simmons version)

I think you found it herein, Keith. Your blog is a fun read. Fascinating story.

-- Posted by hopeanddust on Fri, May 2, 2008, at 9:26 AM