Kerry exploring caves on Guam before the cruise.
Hello, my name is Kerry Swain. Gerry asked me to write something about my job on the JOIDES Resolution. To start off, I am a Field Engineer with Schlumberger Well Services working on the JR for Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. My job is to provide geological data of the borehole by lowering specially designed electronic tools with electric wireline (cable) to measure physical properties of the formation rock like: bulk density, resistivity, porosity, natural gamma ray, and sonic velocity among others. Gerry and other scientists use this data in their scientific research to compare with physical cores that are brought to surface. Sometimes they do not retrieve many cores so the wireline data becomes very important in tying all the information together. Additionally, I provide drill pipe severing services. If the drill pipe becomes stuck, I deploy explosive charges downhole with my wireline and set them off, freeing the pipe and the ship.
The JOIDES Resolution is actually a very unique place to work for me as a Field Engineer with Schlumberger. My backgroung comes from a well structured environment within my company where I have been working for oil companies in search of oil and gas for 5 years before working for Lamont-Doherty. These wireline tools that I mentioned are actually designed to measure specific properties of rocks but the original intent was to use these tools to identify oil and gas reservoirs. So working with Lamont-Doherty in providing scientific data has been a nice change for me over the past year. I’ve really enjoyed talking with the various scientists and other people involved in the program. This position is also unique in that I work in some of the most remote areas of the world, many days sailing from civilization, and I have only myself to rely on for troubleshooting equipment and ensuring that my operations are successful. In previous locations I have always had at least a crew of 2 others to help me in addition to knowing that I was only an hour helicopter flight from spare parts or tools.
Field Engineer is a pretty general term but in case you are wondering yes I’m actually an engineer with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering. Schlumberger took me after college and trained me to become a wireline field engineer to provide services in exploration of oil and gas. I’ve worked all over Texas in places I never knew existed, Rosswell New Mexico, Oklahoma, the Gulf of Mexico from Corpus Christie to New Orleans and now all across the world. Travel in fact is one of the greatest benefits aside from earning a living in this type of business. This job allows me the time and the money to go just about anywhere in the world for many weeks at a time. Not many people can do that and when they do it is normally just 2 weeks of vacation per year. After a 2-month hitch, I can travel for a month before I need to gather supplies in Houston for another leg on the JR.