January 10
Shop tours and museums and classes, oh my! We have so much to see and do on this trip but only so much time to do it. So, today was jam-packed from start to finish to make sure we didn’t miss out on any learning opportunity, whether it be history and culture or petroleum related. Read the report below, by Austin Keys, to hear more about our itinerary for the day.
We started the day with a shop tour at CDI Oilfield Services. This company manufactures down hole pumps for rod-pump wells. We were able to see different parts of the downhole pump including the plunger, barrel and valves. The shop also had some sucker rods, sinker bars, tubing anchor catchers, and other specialized equipment such as guided rods and slotted plungers. Progressive cavity pumps (PCP) are also manufactured and repaired in the shop. To wrap up the tour, some engineering team members showed how they see live data using XSPOC and what can go into the design of rod pumps.
The next stop for the day was the Clock Museum Nicolae Simache, a watch museum located in the city center of Ploiesti. This museum showed how clocks developed throughout time. Some of the first clocks used candles made of certain wax that burned relatively steady and would provide rough estimations of hours throughout the day. Others used the sun as the main source of time prediction. This museum contained table clocks, clocks inserted in paintings, pocket watches, wrist watches, and just about any clock you can imagine. There were also notable clocks owned by famous Romanian people such as King Carol.
When finished with the clock museum we enjoyed some shwarma in the city center of Ploiesti. The next stop of the day was a very old house that has been converted into a museum. This museum, Casa de Târgoveț, belonged to a very rich merchant who had the house build in 1785 using Romanian architecture with Eastern European influences. This is the oldest house Ploesti.
To finish the day, we met Professor Minescu who is the Vice Rector of the school of oil and gas in Ploesti. The class of the day covered coiled tubing, casing design, and a class activity aimed to optimize tripping using different monkey board designs.