What I Did On Friday

Friday was a busy day at work. I spent half a day in the office and in the afternoon, took a ferry out to our refinery.

It was about a 15 minute journey by ferry to the island where the refinery is located. It's actually 3 islands linked by road bridges. In English, the two of the islands have the suffix "Big" and "Small" and while the third is simply called Snake Island - don't ask me why. It doesn't look particularly serpentine nor does it by now have any snakes. Houdini construction work is currently underway which will substantially increase the refinery's capacity and I think all the wildlife on Snake Island, if there was any to begin with should have been rounded up and transported or at least I hope that's what they did.

I don't much care for snakes so if they culled all the snakes on Snake Island, I wouldn't have lost any sleep over it. This actually reminds me of something from Jack Dee's stand-up routine a few years ago. He was talking about how a driver had accidentally run over a snake and then rushed it to the nearest vet for treatment. Jack, being Jack, was of the view that after having run over the snake, the driver ought to have reversed to make doubly sure that the snake was dead.

I agree with Jack. He's a very funny man.

Part of my work involves overseeing the the marine operations of the refinery and these have to do with, the berthing and unberthing of the various tankers which call at the refinery, cargo operations and the management of the wharves in general. I spent the afternoon with the various Master Mariners who run the operations and it was all very congenial. This was followed by a tour of the refinery and I was taken to one of the PUs (Production Units - or catalytic crackers) to see how things work. I was given a blue jumpsuit, a hardhat and industrial shoes to wear before being let out onto the PU. I also had to wear a hydrogen sulphide monitor. It's a bit like a radiation badge but this device measures hydrogen sulphide exposure instead. The picture shows one of the PUs in operation at night. The PUs operate 24/7.

When I got back indoors, it was about 5pm and there was an urgent telephone message waiting for me. Apparently the crude traders were having some sort of mini-crisis about a shipment of crude from Japan to Australia and were needing advice about a change of destination and short delivery LOI. So much for being able to get away early. I had to spend about an hour on the phone, hand-holding the traders and contracts advisers before I could get away for the day.

Fortunately for me, I didn't have dinner plans till 8pm so I wasn't late or anything.

All in all, it wasn't a bad day. I've resisted having to have a Blackberry so far but after Friday's little drama (which I suspect will be the first of many to come), I think I might not be able to hold off getting one any more.