They may be concerned about jamming the barrel or grinding up samples, though.
(lots of trip time for those hands...
I’m guessing they are looking for a lot more detail with the 3 meter cores - changes in life forms, etc. At least it isn’t the 2 FOOT cores they use on shallow environmental jobs!
I worked on an oil rig back in college. One time we spent all day coming out of a hole. Went to bed dead-tired, but knowing that when we got up the other crew would finish and we would have an easy day.
Woke up and looked out the window to a rig with a lot of pipe still on the stack! The other driller lost count and slammed the drill bit into the bottom of the well. We had to continue tripping out of the hole to replace the broken bit! Aaaaggggghhh!