This is where I am interning this summer:
Second from the left, laying on its side, is the Lucius Spar, the other three structures are known as a hull. Next to the spar is the Heavy Lifting Device, a stationary crane that is capable of lifting 13,000 tons.
Pretty awesome right!? This is Kiewit Offshore Services in Ingleside, Texas – located right on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico – a company that builds offshore oil and gas platforms. These platforms are gigantic; the one on the far right will be the largest offshore platform in the world! I am working with the structural group on the Anadarko Petroleum Corporation Lucius Spar project . I am halfway done with my internship and loving every second of it! I work specifically on material take offs which is another way of saying that I help estimate man hours and costs for each drawing, create punch lists for the topside (the production unit on the spar), material management, work schedules and progressing. One of my favorite aspects of this job is that I have the opportunity to not only work with the engineers (structural, piping and cost), but also get to work in the field with the lead men and superintendents on my project. I talk to the lead men on a daily basis, figure out what materials they are missing on the topside, find the missing material or have it recut and repainted. We like to call this “fueling the field”.
A stiffner plate! Recut and ready to be sent to paint!
During the second week of my internship, I was lucky enough to experience the Main Deck Float. The main deck of our giant platform had to be carried from our laydown in the yard roughly 150 yards to the topside and then lowered down on the Production Deck which stands sixty feet tall. This float took eight cranes and about five hours. As the Main Deck was being lowered on top of the Production, our team was standing on the production deck watching for any clashes amongst the parts that might occur. Luckily there were only a few. It was an incredible experience that took a lot of teamwork and communication.
On the weekends when I am not working, I have learned how to wind surf, two-step and even skeet shoot. It’s been a great summer and I am looking forward to the rest of it!
A beautiful day to go windsurfing!
Kiewit Beach Olympics Team Intern
Great Post..! In my opinion this is the big advantage of doing internship. We gain a valuable working experience and we have the opportunity of applying the reality of work to the theroetical knowledge acquired in the classroom, thus adding a new professional experience. I had my internship at http://www.theinterngroup.com/hong-kong/ where I learned a lot. In my first project I was assisting in investigating the environmental footprint of oil and gas operations. An example project is to investigate the use of dope-free technology used for casing in order to quantify how the use of dope-free technology impacts casing running speeds, waste management at the rig site and other operational issues. A second project was to investigate the use of natural gas to power drilling rigs and hydraulic fracturing operations. These projects really tested and honed my ability to stay and I gained a useful experience. Really, I think one must go for internship to achieve the success in career.
Very inspiring! I think also another invaluable aspect of interning abroad is the inspiration that you get. I interned abroad as well in London with http://absoluteinternship.com/programs/london-internships/ Coming from a small town in the mid-west and experiencing life abroad is something that really makes you grow both socially but also professionally, which I really appreciated. Of course the work experience is important, but the people that you meet, the networking and the person that you are becoming is also very crucial.