the analysts

The Analysts Inc. was a mud logging company out of Houston who put the first computers on oil rigs to monitor drilling data while the well was being drilled. They had a program that estimated pore pressure so that the well could be balanced properly by controlling the mud density and prevent blow outs. I spent four years fighting that program on offshore rigs all over the world. The problem was that their sensors were not very good and I complained so much that they invited me to the USA to work on sensor development. That's how I got here in '77.

It was a good way for a young man to see the world, even if it was often the armpits of the universe. I lived and worked out of Aberdeen, Sharjah, Karachi, Cairo, Accra, Stavanger, and Galway. On my time off I'd travel and had some fine experiences that would make a great book, someday.

I developed depth sensors, a hydraulic heave compensation sensor, an RPM sensor, a weight on bit sensor, and a whole slew of other devices I can't remember. I even went to the Philippines with an instrumented bell nipple and tested it on a geothermal well. I worked a lot on measurement of mud flow in a partially full pipe, but never quite got that one to work. I hear it still hasn't been done properly.

The Analysts were swallowed up by Schlumberger who wanted a company to run their emerging MWD systems. They were renamed Anadrill and are still around.

picture to come