Preface

I (Sean) wrote the Oil and Gas Survival Guide book series to share my 35 years of experience and knowledge of the oil and gas industry before I retire and become part of the ‘great crew change.’ My original plan was to write one book of around 300 pages. When I started writing the book, I found my mind flooded with train wreck stories from my past and petroleum engineering details that I felt needed to be communicated. The book grew to over 600 pages and became too large to manage from a writer’s perspective and a pain to carry. So I assembled the book into two volumes as part of a series. If enough readers want to share their train wrecks and other interesting stories and can provide a copyright transfer agreement, I will write a third volume.

I have worked for multiple companies and the stories told throughout this book are from my actual experiences or heard third hand from others on the job. The contents of the Oil and Gas Survival Guide book are intended to save lives and prevent expensive mistakes. You can avoid an expensive or tragic mistake by learning from others and save your company a lot of money, and maybe someone’s life. I have learned that no one is exempt when it comes to accidental death. Sometimes you are at the wrong place at the wrong time and you get killed. This book teaches you where the danger zones are so you can stay out of harm’s way. A wide range of information is presented to prevent you from having your own oilfield train wrecks. There are millions of dollars of information shared in this book and someone or some company paid the price to learn these lessons. In the index, you can find page numbers for topics of ALWAYS DO THIS, KNOW THIS, and NEVER DO THIS, to quickly direct you to some of the most important key learnings in this book.

The names of people, companies, and places in regards to accidents, oilfield train wrecks, expensive mistakes, and unprofessional behavior have been purposely changed to protect the reputations of all those involved. The only exception made is for those largely publicized blowouts, spills and other tragedies that resulted in multiple deaths and/or significant environmental damage.

The Oil and Gas Survival Guide book series are written to provide you a taste of the colorful conversations, stories, and events in the oilfield, on the rigs, on the frac jobs, and in the jungle bars. Due to the interesting people working in the oil and gas industry, you will find many of these stories humorous and entertaining. Some of the stories or events are offensive and/or disgusting. They are included to demonstrate unacceptable behavior that has either hurt or offended others and/or destroyed families and careers.

I am totally indebted to my mother, Lynne Murphy, an award winning author (pen name Georgina Gentry), for her patience and time spent editing this book.

I also want to thank the readers of this book. You have chosen to increase your knowledge by reliving my experiences and those of others. You will learn a lot about my personal life, recommended petroleum engineering practices, oilfield train wrecks, and accidents, and the importance to always exercise your right to shut down an unsafe job. The Oil and Gas Survival Guide book series are my handover notes for you, the next generation of the oil and gas industry . . . .