Amanda Barlow

As we came into our approach on the Deepwater Millennium, it felt like I’d never left home – we could still have been offshore from Western Australia for all I knew. Once you get back on the rig, it doesn’t matter where in the world you are because it’s still all the same faces, same rooms and same routine, wherever in the world the well is being drilled. It’s just a big floating office that picks up and moves around the world from one well to the next.

Heading Offshore 14:30 hrs – “Fly In” day and we’re about to board the helicopter after undertaking drug and alcohol testing, thorough checks of the belongings in our bags, metal-detecting body scans for contraband items, and viewing the pre-flight safety video. A 4:30 AM check-in at Perth Airport for a 6 AM departure meant a very early rise, followed by a two-hour flight to the closest shore base to the rig, and then the long wait at the heliport.

Now in my 40th year of being a geologist, it seems a perfect time to reflect on a career that has navigated resource industry booms and busts, and the change in focus from different commodities that I’ve worked across within that time. In 1983, I graduated from a university in… Subscription Required You must be a member to access this content.