Daily Report
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Exp.326 Daily Report

August

8.20, 2010
Day:37

Weather: Fine but cloudy
Location: Shimizu port, Shizuoka, Japan

Sail to Shimizu port and arrive at the port of Shimizu at 2000hrs.
Successfully finish Exp. 326 by midnight of 20 August 2010. We very much appreciated your enthusiasms, encouragements and patience from onshore during the expedition.

8.19, 2010
Day:36

Weather: Fine but cloudy
Location: Shimizu port, Shizuoka, Japan

Sail to Shimizu port and arrive at the port of Shimizu at 2000hrs.
Successfully finish Exp. 326 by midnight of 20 August 2010. We very much appreciated your enthusiasms, encouragements and patience from onshore during the expedition.

8.18, 2010
Day:35

Weather: Fine but cloudy
Location: Site C0002 Hole F, Nankai Trough

Successfully completed 20" casing cementing, displace suspension fluid. After pulling out all drill pipes, will set corrosion cap and sail back to port of Shimizu.

8.17, 2010
Day:34

Weather: Fine but cloudy
Location: Site C0002 Hole F, Nankai Trough

Continue drift vessel to well center and run in the hole with 20" CSG from 14:15hrs. Land wellhead housing, start cementing to fix the pipe in the hole.

8.16, 2010
Day:33

Weather: Fine but cloudy
Location: NW of Site C0002 Hole F, Nankai Trough

Drift vessel with 0.5 knots from 17.5 miles northwest to well center. Continue to survey status of current by patrol boat.

8.15, 2010
Day:32

Weather: Fine but cloudy
Location: NW of Site C0002 Hole F, Nankai Trough

From 04:15hrs, start running 20 casing pipe in lower current area, 17.5 mile NW of the Site. Drifting vessel to well center.

8.14, 2010
Day:31

Weather: Cloudy
Location: NW of Site C0002 Hole F, Nankai Trough

Pull out the borehole assembly for wiper trip and the ship move to low current area to start running casing pipe.

8.13, 2010
Day:30

Weather: Cloudy
Location: Site C0002 Hole F, Nankai Trough

Continue to ream and wiper trip, drill 26" hole to 2840 mBRT (872.5mbsf). Pulling out of the hole.

8.12, 2010
Day:29

Weather: Cloudy
Location: Site C0002 Hole F, Nankai Trough

Conclude countermeasure against 20" casing incident and position vessel and re-enter hole for the wiper trip at 1930hrs according to the revised operational procedure.

8.11, 2010
Day:28

Weather: Fine but cloudy
Location: 15 miles off the Site

Standby for wiper trip/maintenance. Meanwhile, working on countermeasure against 20" casing incident.

8.10, 2010
Day:27

Weather: Cloudy
Location: 15 miles off the Site

Standby for wiper trip/maintenance. Meanwhile, working on countermeasure against 20" casing incident.

8.9, 2010
Day:26

Weather: Cloudy
Location: 15 miles off the Site

Standby for wiper trip/maintenance. Meanwhile, working on countermeasure against 20" casing incident.

8.8, 2010
Day:25

Weather: Rainy
Location: 15 miles off the Site

Picking and making up BHA for wiper trip, standby 15 miles off location while drifting. Meanwhile, working on countermeasure against 20" casing incident.

8.7, 2010
Day:24

Weather: Cloudy
Location: 15 miles off the Site

Picking and making up BHA for wiper trip, standby 15 miles off location while drifting. Meanwhile, working on countermeasure against 20" casing incident.

8.6, 2010
Day:23

Weather: Fine but Cloudy
Location: 15 miles off the Site

Picking and making up BHA for wiper trip, standby 15 miles off location while drifting. Meanwhile, working on countermeasure against 20" casing incident.

8.5, 2010
Day:22

Weather: Fine but Cloudy
Location: 15 miles SE of the Site

Picking and making up BHA for wiper trip, standby ~15 miles off location while drifting. Meanwhile, working on countermeasure against 20" casing incident.

8.4, 2010
Day:21

Weather: Fine but Cloudy
Location: Transit to standby location

Transit and arrive at standby location at 06:00hrs, around 15 miles SE of well site. Prepare for wiper trip.

8.3, 2010
Day:20

Weather: Fine but Cloudy
Location: Transit to standby location

Port call activities to load 20" casing and materials. At 1830hrs depart the port and transit 12 miles off location for standby.

8.2, 2010
Day:19

Weather: Cloudy
Location: Port of Shingu

Transit to Shingu and arrived on 16:00hrs. Performing loading operations.

8.1, 2010
Day:18

Weather: Cloudy
Location: Site C0002 Hole F, Nankai Trough

Running 20" casing pipes with drill pipe, move vessel to low current area, hook load decrease suddenly and lost casing pipe at 9km North from the Site C0002 around 1630hrs. Pull out assembly and dive ROV. Now heading to Shingu port to load spare casing pipe.


July

7.31, 2010
Day:17

Weather: Fine but cloudy
Location: Site C0002 Hole F, Nankai Trough

Weather is good, with very little swell and clear hazy skies. We finally pulled out of hole, after some troubleshoot with piper racking system and could start preparing for casing deployment. This began in the evening and has continued smoothly overnight. Sunday we will finish deploying casing and cementing string, then prepare to drift back to site and reenter the hole.

7.30, 2010
Day:16

Weather: Cloudy
Location: Site C0002 Hole F, Nankai Trough

Run back to bottom and observe tight spot. Circulate clean hole and reaming. We continue pull out of the hole and preparation for casing deployment. Meanwhile move to low current area, 4 miles NW from location @ 0.5 kt. Recover ROV.

7.29, 2010
Day:15

Weather: Overcast
Location: Site C0002 Hole F, Nankai Trough

A long day of bad weather and equipment troubleshooting on Chikyu. Now the peak of bad weather is over and operations can continue with final reaming and preparation for casing. Troubleshoot #1 HR and Proxy Switch for Hook Height, Wiper Trip.

7.28, 2010
Day:14

Weather: Overcast
Location: Site C0002 Hole F, Nankai Trough

Extent 26" hole to 868.5m below seafloor to improve condition. Circulate and wiper trip carried out. Troubleshoot #1 Pipe Racking System and switched to #2.

7.27, 2010
Day:13

Weather: Fine but cloudy
Location: Site C0002 Hole F, Nankai Trough

Continue to drill 26" hole and reach to the Total Depth at 856.5 meter below seafloor at 21:00hrs. Prepare for wiper trip.
Water depth: 1939mMSL (mean sea level)

7.26, 2010
Day:12

Weather: Cloudy
Location: Site C0002 Hole F, Nankai Trough

Continue drilling 26" hole at C0002F.
Water depth; 1939mMSL (mean sea level)
Drilling depth; 472.5mbsf (meter below seafloor)
As of 2400hrs on 26 July 2010, local time

7.25, 2010
Day:11

Weather: Fine but cloudy
Location: Site C0002 Hole F, Nankai Trough

Repair ROV winch took place. 36" conductor casing jetting was successfully done. Releasing DAT also successfully conducted, and starts drilling 26" bit hole at C0002F.

7.24, 2010
Day:10

Weather: Fine but cloudy
Location: 2 miles Northeast of the Site C0002

Pick up spare gear box from station vessel at 2245 and repair ROV winch.

7.23, 2010
Day:9

Weather: Fine but cloudy
Location: 3.1 miles Northwest of the Site C0002

Waiting for arrival of an engineer and spare parts for ROV winch. Move the vessel to Northwest 3 miles from the Site.

7.22, 2010
Day:8

Weather: Fine but cloudy
Location: 2.3 miles Northwest of the Site C0002

Continue drifting toward the Site. ROV stop recovering due to winch trouble and hold spudding until it will be fixed.

7.21, 2010
Day:7

Weather: Fine but cloudy
Location: 7miles North West from Site C0002

Sea condition is still calm, we continue to run 36" conductor casing to 1670mBRT. Install the guide horn above the moon pool while hooking drill strings with conductor casing. Start drifting the vessel to the Site.

7.20, 2010
Day:6

Weather: Fine but cloudy
Location (at 0000): Around C0002 site, deploying transponders

Setting transponders, make up 36" conductor casing with Drill-Ahead-Tool (DAT). Lowering 36" conductor casing to 1288mBRT (approximately 1260m below mean sea level).

7.19, 2010
Day:5

Weather: Fine but cloudy
Location: Site C0002, Nankai Trough

Chikyu left Shingu port at 0645, moving toward C0002 site. Arrive at the site at 1430. Helicopter route check has been done. Transponder deployment and preparation for 36" conductor jetting continues.

7.18, 2010
Day:4

Weather: Fine
Location: Port of Shingu

Preparation for Exp. 326 still continues at Shingu port under beautiful blue sky. We had a pre-spud meeting this afternoon, one of the co-chief scientists Dr. Harold Tobin join the meeting via internet. Ship crew, drilling crew as well as CDEX staff joined the meeting. The ship is scheduled to leave the port at 0700 tomorrow morning.

7.17, 2010
Day:3

Weather: Fine
Location: Port of Shingu

Loading drilling equipments and materials to Chikyu continues today. Drill-Ahead-Tool is assembled with wellhead housing.

7.16, 2010
Day:2

Weather: Fine
Location: Port of Shingu

Preparation for Exp. 326 is ongoing at Shingu port, loading 36" conductor pipes and 20" casing pipes etc. Press interview is also taken place onboard.
With good weather, all port call activities going well.

7.15, 2010
Day:1

Weather: Fine
Location: Port of Shingu

IODP Exp. 326 "NanTroSEIZE Stage 3 -Plate Boundary Deep Riser -1" started from 00:00, 15 July 2010. Chikyu arrived at Shingu-port at 11:20 this morning for the port call for Exp. 326 and expected to start sailing from 19 July morning. This expedition is purely engineering one, we will set 20" CSG down to approximately 850 m with well-head at C0002 site. This hole will be the first step for the future Deep-Riser hole aiming at the plate boundary exploration.