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Archive for the ‘UK’ Category

Safety standards, regulations, management, and culture: continuous improvement is the essential common denominator

Posted in accidents, Offshore Energy - General, UK, well control incidents, tagged , , , , , , , on May 9, 2024| Leave a Comment »

JL Daeschler, pioneering subsea engineer and BOE contributor, recounted a frightening incident in 1976, a year after UK North Sea production began:

We found ourselves in a drastic situation. While working on a subsea well, the wireline retrievable tubing safety valve got tangled up in the tree area. We had an open well situation and couldn’t cut the wire in the subsea tree. Further, the weather was bad, and keeping on location was difficult. The riser hydraulic release was faulty, so there was an imminent high risk of a “jammed ” subsea tree, bent/damaged riser, and uncontrollable well flow.

We got through this, but recognized that improved well control capabilities were needed during workover operations. Management decided that any future workover operations on a subsea tree/well would require a small diameter workover BOP with shearing capability immediately above the Xmas tree. A year later, we had the hybrid kit pictured below (with JL). Note that the guide funnels are slim to run on guide lines and not overshoot the guide base posts.

JL’s story reminds us once again that safety achievement is dependent on continuous improvement driven by experience, research, and technological advances.

When I was a young engineer with the US Geological Survey, the OCS safety regulator at the time, my boss and mentor Richard Krahl (known as “Mr. OCS” for his commitment to offshore safety) slammed😀 a copy of the first edition of API RP 14C (Analysis, Design, Installation, and Testing of Safety Systems for Offshore Production Facilities) on my desk and told me to read it carefully. That pioneering process safety document has grown with the offshore industry and is now in its 8th edition.

Similarly, API RP 2A-WSD (Planning, Designing, and Constructing Fixed Offshore Platforms— Working Stress Design) is now in its 22nd edition and API STD 53 (Well Control Equipment Systems for Drilling Wells) is in its 5th edition. There are countless other examples of the progression in safety equipment and practices.

As individuals, companies, agencies, and collectively as an industry, there can be no standing still. Nothing is routine and the challenges continue to grow: deeper wells, more complex geology, higher temperature and pressure, deeper water, harsher environments, remote locations, new security risks, and more. We get better or we get worse, and the latter is not an option. Onward!

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Offshore art and history courtesy of JL Daeschler

Posted in Gulf of Mexico, Norway, Offshore Energy - General, UK, Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on April 16, 2024| Leave a Comment »

JL Daeschler is a pioneering subsea engineer and artist extraordinaire who is a native of France (Brittany) and lives in Scotland. He has shared 2 more of his exceptional drawings. (Click on the images to enlarge.)

This is a drawing of the Ocean Viking (Odeco) in the Norwegian North Sea in 1968. The rig was built in Oslo as a sister ship to the Ocean Traveler, which was already working at the same location. The Ekofisk field was discovered later in 1969.
The mast-type derrick could be lowered for long ocean tow or bridge clearance. It would have been difficult to evacuate a 100 + personnel to the standby vessel, a decommissioned trawler. Things have changed so much in 56 years!
Inclined jack up legs with rack and pinion drive ( Marathon Le Tourneau), Gulf of Mexico

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Island Drilling – Trident BOP safety dispute raises many questions

Posted in drilling, Norway, Offshore Energy - General, Regulation, UK, tagged , , , , , , on February 20, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Background:

  • Last summer, Trident Energy exercised multiple options for the use of the Island Innovator semi-submersible (pictured above), extending the duration of the Equatorial Guinea contract to approximately 230 days.
  • The rig arrived in Equatorial Guinea in Nov. 2023.
  • On 7 Feb, a Trident team briefed Equatorial Guinea Minister of Mines and Hydrocarbons Antonio Oburu Ondo about problems with the Innovator’s BOP system. Apparently, Island Drilling, the rig owner, was not present at that meeting.
  • Mr. Ondo subsequently reported that the BOP had serious problems and failed to respond to control system commands.
  • Trident terminated the rig contract on safety grounds.
  • Island has publicly responded that (1) the Trident statements are inaccurate, (2) there have been no critical safety incidents, (3) the BOP has been checked and tested by the OEM representative on the rig and declared safe and ready for operations, and (4) they will challenge the contract termination.

Questions & comments:

  • Since the rig had just arrived on location, the BOP issues were presumably identified during onboard stump testing. Were corrective measures discussed? Why was contract termination deemed necessary?
  • Island’s statement indicates that the rig was tested with the OEM representative present. Presumably those tests were in accordance with API S53 or the ISO equivalent.
  • Had inspections and maintenance also been conducted in accordance with the standard? Did Trident inspect the rig and review maintenance and testing records before signing the contract?
  • Have other companies had similar issues with the Innovator? None have been identified in my web search.
  • Was a bridging document in place to address differences in Trident/Island management systems? If so, what does that document say about BOP inspection and oversight.
  • Why was the drilling contractor not present at the meeting with the Equatorial Guinea authorities? Was Island advised that the contract was being terminated prior to that meeting? Did the authorities speak with Island to hear their side of the story?
  • Does the contract provide for mandatory arbitration in the event of such disagreements?
  • Could other factors have influenced the cancellation decision? I was involved with an arbitration case involving an operator that used safety issues as the reason for terminating an expensive long-term rig contract. The arbitration panel ruled in favor of the drilling contractor resulting in a very large payment to the rig owner. Ironically, serious safety violations by the operating company (but not the drilling contractor) were identified during the arbitration process.
  • Island Drilling is a Norwegian Company with an experienced management team. The Innovator has conducted operations in the Norwegian and UK offshore sectors. These factors typically imply a strong commitment to safe operations.

Hopefully, we’ll be able to learn more about the specifics of this dispute in the near future.

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JL Daeschler recalls a 1969 incident on the Sedco 135 E

Posted in accidents, drilling, Offshore Energy - General, UK, tagged , , , , , , , on February 9, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Jean-Louis Daeschler, a native of France who lives in Scotland, was a pioneering subsea engineer who worked on rigs worldwide. Below, he recounts a 1969 incident on the Sedco 135 E.

Sedco 135 E

Sept. 1969 on the Sedco 135 E offshore Miri, East Malaysia

At about 10.00 PM the crew was running 24 ” riser pipe. The rig used a 2 stack BOP system. The weather was superb – no wind and a temperature of 26 deg C.

When the 4th joint of riser pipe (45 ft) was picked up through the “V” door and was almost vertical, it unlatched from the elevator. There was a massive clang followed by silence. The riser pipe hit the drill floor, fell backward into the derrick frame and got jammed there. No one was hurt.

The incident would have been much worse if the pipe had fallen through the catwalk, perforated the maindeck, fell into the water, and damaged the the rig’s sponson tanks !!!! A piece of pipe falling overboard turns into a high velocity torpedo. A dropped 13 3/8″ casing joint is sometimes found 400 ft away. Heavy drill collars go almost straight down, which is the worst case given the potential for damage to the wellhead equipment.

I left the office and went to the rig floor, which was silent. Everyone was looking up and down. With the brake tied down, I asked Bill Ellis what we were going to do now. Bill was an experienced 45+ year old driller from Ruidoso New Mexico. His answer was “Go back home to the USA” with a big smile. He was always in control.

Bill demonstrated great leadership; there was no panic or blame. The all-Chinese and Malay crew was listening and smiling. After some rigging up, we got the operations back into swing. We checked the elevator latch and other equipment, laid down the joint that had been stuck, picked up another one, and continued running the riser.

I met again with Bill and Jo, his wife, in Aberdeen in 1975, and we still talked about that night-shift event.

Sadly, in 1976 their young son Clay Ellis passed away on a diving job in the North Sea.

This is life in the oil patch, a great family all over.

JL Daeschler on the Sedco 135 E

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Floating turbine maintenance and California offshore wind development

Posted in California, decommissioning, Norway, Offshore Energy - General, Offshore Wind, UK, tagged , , , , , , on January 22, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Hywind Scotland, Equinor

It’s prudent, if not imperative, to tow floating wind turbines to sheltered coastal locations for major maintenance. For that reason, Hywind, the world’s first floating wind farm will be offline for up to 4 months this summer.

Hywind Scotland‘s operator, Norwegian power giant Equinor, says that operational data has indicated that its wind turbines need work. The pilot project has been in operation since 2017.

The five Siemens Gamesa turbines will be towed to Norway this summer. An Equinor spokesperson said, “This is the first such operation for a floating farm, and the safest method to do this is to tow the turbines to shore and execute the operations in sheltered conditions.”

electrek

Published data indicate that Hywind has been the UK’s best performing offshore wind farm. Performance data for Hywind, and a chart illustrating the capacity factors since commissioning, are posted below. The 2024 capacity factor will, of course, be substantially reduced as a result of the essential offsite maintenance.

rolling 12 month capacity factor
ending 5/2022		life capacity
factor		age
(years)		installed
capacity
(MWp)		total elec
generated
(GWh)		power/
unit area spanned
(W/m2)
Hywind Scotland49.5%52.6%4.6306421.0
capacity factor = total energy generated/(hours since commissioning x capacity)

The first US floating turbines are expected to be at these California offshore leases, and Hywind operator Equinor is one of the lessees:

Given the financial challenges facing the offshore wind industry, the still emerging technology, and the risks inherent in California offshore development, the amounts bid on these leases only 13 months ago are stunning.

Some Central Coast residents are not enamoured with “another attempt to industrialize the coast.” Although the turbines will be >20 miles offshore, they will have to be towed to shore for major maintenance. For the Central California leases, nearby harbor areas like Morro Bay (pictured below) would be overwhelmed by the large structures and the maintenance and repair operations. Towing the towers to LA/Long Beach, albeit rather distant from the leases, would seem to be the preferred option for such work.

Ironically, a report for BOEM, points to synergies between the offshore wind industry and oil and gas decommissioning industry. Such synergies will only be possible if longstanding oil and gas decommissioning obstacles are satisfactorily addressed and the offshore wind projects proceed as planned.

Which will come first – platform decommissioning or wind turbine commissioning? For those young enough to find out, what is the over-under for the years until (1) half of those platforms are decommissioned, and (2) half of the wind turbines commissioned? Any number <10 is unrealistic for either.

Morro Bay Harbor

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The Hamilton brothers, JL Daeschler, and the first production in the UK North Sea

Posted in Offshore Energy - General, UK, tagged , , , , , on November 10, 2023| Leave a Comment »

converted semi-submersible initiates production at the Argyll field

JL Daeschler, a pioneering subsea engineer who lives in Scotland, has fond memories of his interactions with Fred and Ferris Hamilton, the brothers whose company was the first to produce oil in the UK sector of the North Sea (1975). Their small company aced the super-majors by initiating production at the Argyll Field with subsea wells and the Transworld 58, a converted semi-submersible drilling rig. Their rig conversion was an early predecessor to the modern floating production units that have become the surface facilities of choice for deepwater development.

JL recalls that Ferris and Fred took time to discuss any problem with any employee. Should there be arguments, they were often followed by more relaxed discussions about sailing, cars, cooking, and other topics of mutual interest. The brothers would travel from Denver for the annual Christmas dinner in Aberdeen, and invited everyone from the warehouse crew to the production manager. There was a great sense of community among the employees and contractors.

As JL notes, there were no satellite positioning systems, and real time communications with the rig were short and limited to the normal marine radio channels. This was a remarkable era of achievement for the North Sea and the offshore industry, as operations expanded and technology advanced to support them. I have much respect for these offshore pioneers and their contributions to societies around the world.

Related articles:

British Secretary of State for Energy Tony Benn, center, with Frederic Hamilton and Captain Harry Koutsoukos opening a valve to release the first oil from the North Sea into the BP refinery on the Isle of Grain in 1975.

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New UK legislation provides for annual North Sea licensing rounds

Posted in climate, energy policy, Offshore Energy - General, UK, tagged , , , , on November 9, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Each annual licensing round will only take place if key tests are met that support the transition to net zero. The first test is that the UK must be projected to import more oil and gas from other countries than it produces at home. 

The second is that the carbon emissions associated with the production of UK gas are lower than the equivalent emissions from imported liquefied natural gas. 

If both these tests are met, the NSTA will be required to invite applications for new licences annually.

GOV.UK

The “key tests” would seem to ensure annual licensing rounds for the foreseeable future. The charts below are from UK EiTi. The first chart illustrates the sharp decline in UK production over the past 20 years. The second and third charts illustrate the large projected gaps between supply and demand, particularly for natural gas.

In 2050, total production of oil and gas is estimated at ~10 million tonnes of oil equivalent. The projected 2050 demand is estimated at ~35 tonnes. For domestic production to exceed imports over the next 20-30 years, resource licensing and field development would have to be very successful and efficient.

Projections of UK Gas Demand and Production
Projections of UK Gas Demand and Production

With regard to the second test, carbon emissions from the production of UK gas should maintain their advantage over imported LNG given the energy required to liquefy and transport that gas.

It would have perhaps been more transparent to simply stipulate annual licensing rounds, but that would probably not have been politically acceptable.

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A refreshing burst of sanity – UK issues 27 new offshore oil and gas licences

Posted in energy policy, Offshore Energy - General, UK, tagged , , , , on October 30, 2023| Leave a Comment »

The North Sea Transition Authority (perhaps the transition is a bit more complicated than changing the name of the licensing agency) has announced the awarding of 27 new oil and gas licenses in the UK sector of the North Sea. Summary bullets:

  • Quicker-to-production areas chosen to aid UK energy security
  • First to be awarded from 115 applications – the highest number since 2016/17 29th Licensing Round (see map below)
  • More blocks will be offered subject to additional environmental checks

These licences are in the Central and Northern North Sea, and West of Shetland. There are currently 284 offshore fields in production in the UK North Sea and an estimated 5.25 billion boe in total projected production to 2050. 

CGG map showing applications

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Applying the UK Comparative Assessment Process to Decision Making for the Decommissioning of California OCS Platforms

Posted in California, decommissioning, Offshore Energy - General, UK, tagged , , , , on October 30, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Platform Harmony jacket

An excellent paper by John Smith and Bob Byrd is attached.

The authors recommend the operators of large OCS platforms offshore California and in the Gulf of Mexico who propose to partially remove platform jackets prepare Comparative Assessments to support their decommissioning applications. The Comparative Assessments can also be prepared to support the case for allowing partial removal of smaller platform jackets and allowing pipelines and drill muds and cuttings to remain in-situ.

applying-the-uk-comparative-assessment-to-ca-platform-decommissioning-finalDownload

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The sinking of the Ocean Prince (1968) and the heroic North Sea rescue

Posted in accidents, drilling, Offshore Energy - General, UK, tagged , , , , on August 21, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Offshore veteran JL Daeschler brought the historic destruction of the Ocean Prince to my attention.

“At about 2 am on the day of the storm, the rig’s superstructure was torn off during a gale. By 7:10 am about a third of the drilling plattform had dissapared under 60 feet water.”

I didn’t realize that some early North Sea wells were drilled with semisubmersible rigs that were sitting on bottom, ala submersibles.

Per JL Daeschler, “the barge master on Ocean Prince was unsettled about sitting on a sandbank in the North Sea with waves as deep as the water depth, hence accelerating the scouring around the pontoon on the sea bed and distorting the forces on an unsupported hull. On a semisubmersible floating rig there is a great level of compliance between the mooring system and the forces on the leg and bracing. Worst case, you let the mooring go and drift. 

It’s noteworthy that: “During the same storm which claimed the ”Ocean Prince,” the rig’s sister ship ”Ocean Viking,” while drilling afloat, withstood winds and waves of equal force.”

The entire crew of the Ocean Prince was safely evacuated. The helicopter pilot’s last name was fitting given his bravery during the rescue!

“Hero of the rescue effort was Capt. Robert Balls, 32, a former naval pilot who was alerted to remove the stranded crewmen. Within 45 minutes after he was awakened at Scarborough Hotel at 6 a.m., he was piloting a Wessex 60 helicopter across the North Sea fighting gale winds 400 feet up.”

“Captain Balls flew the copter with a minimum load of fuel in order to carry more than a full passenger load to the oil rig ”Constellation,” which was drilling about 20 miles south of the ”Ocean Prince.” On the first lift he transported 19 men. Usually, the capacity of the Wessex 60 is 16. On the second trip he took 18 crewmen. The final trip, he flew eight men directly to Scarborough.”

Before the storm:

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