Mud Loggers for Dummies - The Freelance Files MMCLXXVIII

mud logger examining cuttings

We often use the Wayback Machine at archive.org to research the history of our DotD nominees, in particular finding out original publication dates and previous pseudonyms under which the freelancers have published. Today's research took a slightly different tack: our records show that two extremely closely related topics were published on the same day at WiseGEEK.com. We'd already lambasted Terrie Brockmann for the first, "What does a Mudlogging Geologist do?" Here with a second installment is returning DotD and oil industry incompetent (the opposite of "expert") Mary McMahon. trying to explain "What does a Mudlogger do?" also at WiseGEEK. Oddly enough, both have the same publication date...

The answer to the two should be the same, since they're the same thing: a mud logger is a mud logging geologist. After Brockmann made such a hash of the topic, though, we wondered how McMahon might do; but based on her history, we weren't expecting a whole lot.

We didn't get much... here are some of Mary's (she called herself S. E. Smith back in those days) more egregious errors, with corrections:

• "A mudlogger is an oil and gas industry professional who generates a log noting the conditions surrounding the construction of a well." – WTF is this "construction" crap? Trying to avoid plagiarism by pretending it's a synonym of "drilling"? It isn't.
• "This member of a drilling team usually has geology training..." – No, a mud logger always a has geology (or earth science) degree.
• "...the mudlogger keeps track of drilling speed..." – Mud loggers record the rate of penetration, rotary torque, and rotary speed. 
• "the mudlogger keeps track of... viscosity of the drilling substrate." – WTF? Is that Mary's understanding of "drilling mud"? It isn't a "drilling substrate," it's a drilling medium.
• "The mudlogger can compare data with other wells to get an idea of the bigger picture in the area." – Ummm, no, the exploration or production geologists do that. The mud logger isn't concerned with regional or even local trends.
• "This work includes identifying... dangerous conditions [such as] signs of explosive or toxic materials." – We assume she means H₂S (hydrogen sulfide). Electronic instruments are much more reliable than a mud logger for identifying H₂S (c.f. "mud duck") and for monitoring downhole pressure. The mud logger monitors those instruments rather than "identifying... conditions."

Mary neglected to mention – because she didn't know any better, we're sure – that one reason the job is called mudlogging is because, at regular intervals, the mud logger catches cuttings circulated up in the drilling mud, washes them, and identifies the lithologies encountered by the drill at the bottom of the hole; including charting any shows of hydrocarbons. The mud logger also plots gas content from the well, identifying kicks that may mark prospective zones. Periodically, the logger lags the mud to determine the length of time it takes the mud to circulate top to bottom and back. McMahon compressed all this into,

"Periodically, she examines samples taken from the drill under a microscope, identifying different kinds of geological material."

Pish: if that's what our Dumbass of the Day thinks a mud logger does, she has another think coming. No wonder she's collecting award number fourteen.

DD - OIL