It is most likely that the company will have been set up in order to undertake the seismic operations. When the operations team arrives to commence preparations for the drilling phase they should find a fully functional administrative organisation.

1. Location

The office must be close to the housing area rather than in a down-town location. This will reduce the exposure to rush-hour driving hazards and has a strong positive psychological effect on the staff. Consideration should be given to renting a large villa in its own grounds and converting it into an office.

If possible, and consistent with the above, it is also recommended to have the office on the airport side of the town.

2. Space requirements

Ten or eleven offices are required for the Operations Team, as follows:

• Country Manager .
• Supply Superintendent.
• Head of Drilling.
• Drilling Engineer.
• Safety Adviser.
• Civil Engineer (land operations only).
• Two Secretaries.
• Two Supply assistants.
• Conference room (not necessarily larger than a normal office, but large enough to hold a meeting with ten people round a table).
• Radio room.
• Spare room for use of short term visitors such as surveyor, audit team, field materials supervisor.

3. Contractors

Drilling Contractor and Service companies will also require offices for their personnel. They should be close, but separate from the OPCO's offices. It is not the Company's responsibility to provide these offices. However it is in the Company's interest that the Contractor should be conveniently accessible and have the required facilities, thus any information about the availability of suitable premises should ay be passed on.

4. Power

• - Computers , air-conditioners and radios are susceptible to voltage fluctuations. Computers should be protected by voltage stabilisers/UPSs. ACs can be protected by cut-outs. If the voltage is almost always low the only solution is to install a generator close to the office, 100-120 KVA should be sufficient.
• - If a generator is likely to be required, it should be taken into account when choosing the office. A specific site will be required (garden, car park, etc) and the reactions of the neighbours will have to be taken into account.
• - Radios, including satellite communications sets, and modern telephone exchanges also need to have a guaranteed power supply in order to ensure communications in case of emergency, thus a battery back-up should be available for each set.

5. Office equipment

Telecoms

A minimum of three telephone lines are required of which one should be dedicated to a fax machine. The selection of equipment should be based on the support/ maintenance facilities available. The experience of other local businesses should be considered.

Photocopiers

Three simple machines, capable of making a lot of A4 copies quickly. These are for the Head Office, the rig/construction camp and the materials base. There should also be at least one more sophisticated machine in the Head Office, capable of reducing and enlarging, and making A3 copies. The make should be chosen on the basis of the maintenance facilities available.

The amount of paper used for photocopying should not be underestimated. If adequate quality paper is not available locally it should be ordered on the basis of an average consumption of two reams of A4 paper per day throughout the campaig