This article is from page 15 of the 2012-01-03 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 15 JPG
IT GOES without saying that it’s a long way from Clare to Kazakhstan. And for Ray Flannery that distance and sense of enormous difference is dramatically brought to life every time he looks out his office window. Especially these days, in the depths of winter. The Ballyea man doesn’t work in one of Kazakhstan’s many large cities or towns. The office doesn’t overlook any smog-choked metropolis. It’s far away from all that. In fact, it’s far away from most things.
Work for Ray for the past few weeks has been a man made island somewhere in the Caspian Sea, about 80km off the coast of Kazakhstan.
Like many his age, it was the offer of a job that brought Ray to one of the harshest and most remote regions in the world. The Caspian Sea is home to the Kashagan Project a vast network of islands and rigs working on what is estimated to be one of the largest oil fields on the planet.
He explains, “They reckon it’s the biggest oil find of the past 30 years. There’s something like 4,500 people working for different companies. It’s a pretty big operation.”
Ray works on Island Delta as a field engineer for the Italian firm Tozzi. It’s a job he has done for different companies in various far-flung places of the world including Indonesia, Madagascar and Canada. Kazakhstan though is different. It’s harsh and very cold. He says, “Weather wise it’s -15º at the moment and a guy was telling me that it will go down to -30º in January. The Caspian Sea is frozen over so the boats can’t run. They had been using choppers to get to the mainland but now a bog fog has come in as well. They’re hoping it will clear so people can get back home for Christmas. The weather here is a big factor…It’s very harsh when you see the frozen sea and the mounds of snow.” The former St Flannan’s student realised just how remote Island D is when a colleague told him a story about unwanted visitors during last year’s big freeze.
“A guy who worked here last year was telling me that when it froze over a wolf actually walked out from the coastline and was headed towards the islands.
“They had to tranquilise it and Medivac (helicopter ambulance) it back to the mainland!”
Apart from the wolves there is a strong international presence among the workforce dotted around the various ships and islands of the Kashagan Project. But not too many Paddys, Ray says.
“It’s very multinational but at the moment there is a very small Irish presence.
We spoke in the run up to Christmas and Ray was hoping to speak by skype to his parents, brother and sister.
He says, “Christmas is just a regular day. It runs like clockwork. They run a pretty tight ship. We might get to eat the turkey!”
Apart from being grateful for the opportunity to work, Ray says the chance to travel to places like Kazakhstan has given him a new understanding about life away from home. “It’s given me a completely different perspective, the things you see and what people are born into.”