We are three weeks away into production. Meaning: in 3 weeks, the gas from beneath the ocean will be pumped into our pipes and it will either be processed or flared. Yay!

I flew to Gresik again last Wednesday to meet my colleagues and I was so happy to see the On Shore Production Facilities look more and more like the real Gas Plant. There are more and more Operations people walking around in their safety gear, checking this and that. I still could see goats (!!) wondering around though, but soon there will be fences around the plant and it will be restricted even for human. We should wear full safety gear (not only hard hat, boots and safety glasses) and get the Plant Manager approval before we could enter that area. Hence, before that happened, I made time to walk around the plant to admire this massive engineering. It remained me of an episode of Mega Structures but of course, this is nothing compared to any of it. But yet, it is real and within my reach.

I also met some of the Project Engineers as well and had a good laugh. As Operations people has started taking over the plant, most of them had been moved to another temporary office to work on the second phase of the project, which is the Oil Production Facilities. I imagine what it feels like to give up a baby you have grown so fondly to another department to run it. Ah, now I am being romantic! I do have this soft spot for engineers for I secretly admired them for being able to work under such an extreme pressure and temperatures (to me, at least!) and still able to come up with something as beautiful as this plant. I have always have soft spot for them and that’s why I always go easier on them. Discrimination. Discrimination. Discrimination. Oh well, what can I say? I love engineering to the bones.