For the Crew of a Drill Ship, a Routine Task, a Far-From-Routine Goal

By HENRY FOUNTAIN
NYT

ABOARD DEVELOPMENT DRILLER II, off Louisiana — The first thing that greets visitors to the Development Driller II is a large official sign that bears the name pencil pushers have given the well being drilled by this mammoth floating rig: OCS-G 32306.

But the rig’s tool pushers and other workers — and, by now, the rest of the world — know that this is not just another deepwater oil well in the Gulf of Mexico. It is one of two relief wells meant to put an end, once and for all, to the undersea gusher that has been spewing oil into the gulf for two months.

Working 12-hour shifts for 21 days at a stretch in the thick gulf air 40 miles offshore, the crew may have gotten into its familiar drilling routine, but conversations with family and friends back home constantly reinforce the importance of the work.

“They know that it is us, that we need to stop it,” said Mickey Frugé, the senior representative on board for BP, the oil company responsible for the leak and for this well, being drilled at a cost of about $100 million. “People are asking us questions. All we want to do is get the oil stopped.”

(More here.)