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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

Here is the entire interview. The Nord Stream sabotage discussion begins just after the 1:11 mark.

Putin suggests that people consider who had an interest in sabotaging the pipelines and who had the capability. He also asks why Germany isn’t allowing gas to flow through the one Nord Stream line that wasn’t damaged. 

NAE announcement

As the Minerals Management Service’s liaison to the Marine Board of the National Academies and subsequently as a Marine Board member, I had the privilege of working with many outstanding engineers on matters related to offshore safety and environmental protection. Dr. Martha Grabowski was a clear standout because of her exceptional leadership and communications skills, modest ego, and willingness to assist.

Dr. Grabowski excels in analyzing and mitigating operational risks including those associated with human and organizational factors. As such, she was a great resource in our work on safety management and culture.

Congratulations to Dr. Grabowski!

A previous post commented on the bonding waiver for the Vineyard Wind project’s offshore facilities. According to this presentation by Cliff Carroll at the “Close to the Wind Summit” (Jan. 27 in Hyannis, MA), certain onshore bonding requirements are also being waived. Per Mr. Carroll, the Massachusetts Energy Facilities Siting Board has overruled the Town of Barnstable’s objections to bonding waivers for large transformer substations to be located withing the town.

Now there is no Federal bonding on decommissioning and now we have no bonding as a town.

Cliff Carroll

Mr. Carroll’s brief bonding comments begin at the 11:30 mark. Prior to that he considers some of the environmental risks associated with these substations.

The conclusion of the investigation is that Swedish jurisdiction does not apply and that the investigation therefore should be closed,” the Swedish Prosecution Authority said in a statement.

Reuters

Weak, very weak. Instant Not My Job Award classic.



Little has changed since our last update. Will we finally get a substantive update from an official investigator?

STOCKHOLM, Feb 5 (Reuters) – The prosecutor leading Sweden’s probe into the Nord Stream gas pipeline blasts in the Baltic Sea in 2022 plans to announce a decision this week on whether to drop the case, press charges or request that someone is detained, his office said on Monday.

The statement confirmed an earlier report by Swedish daily Expressen. It was not immediately clear which day an announcement would be made, a spokesperson for the prosecutor’s office said.

Reuters

Update per Disclose TV and others: “The Swedish public prosecutor’s office was apparently unable to identify any specific suspects.”

BOE Honor Roll criteria:

  • Must average <0.3 incidents of noncompliance (INCs) per facility-inspection.
  • Must average <0.1 INCs per inspection-type. (Note that each facility-inspection may include multiple types of inspections (e.g. production, pipeline, pollution, Coast Guard, site security, etc). On average, each facility-inspection included 3.3 types of inspections in 2023. Here is a list of the types of inspections that may be performed.
  • Must operate at least 3 production platforms and have drilled at least one well (i.e. you need operational activity to demonstrate compliance and safety achievement).
  • May not have a disqualifying event (e.g. fatal or life-threatening incident, significant fire, major oil spill). Due to the extreme lag in updates to BSEE’s incident tables, district investigations and media reports are used to make this determination.
platforms2023 well starts2023 (10 mos.) oil prod. (million bbls)2023 (10 mos.) gas prod. (bcf)
Anadarko10116660
BP71110565
Cantium961056
Chevron8106739
Eni31613
Hess331836
LLOG1072535
Murphy744257
QuarterNorth911323
Shell2020141140

Also noteworthy:

The 2023 Safety Honor Roll list will be posted tomorrow.

As background information, below is a summary of compliance data for 2022 and 2023.

The performance of Fieldwood and Cox skewed the 2022 and 2023 data. In 2022, Fieldwood was issued 448 INCs, 26% of the Gulf of Mexico total. In 2023, Cox was by far the leading violator with 718 INCs, 39% of the GoM total (780/43% when Cox affiliates are included). These data point to the importance of considering safety and compliance in approving lease assignments and making supplemental bonding determinations.

20222023
facility inspections33093100
inspection types1085610341
W INCs8091050
CSI INCs530600
FSI INCs376180
total INCs17151830
INCs/facility inspection0.520.59
INCs/inspection type0.160.18
Pacific facility inspections280300
Pacific inspection types802744
Pacific W INCs2211
Pacific CSI INCs1314
Pacific FSI10
Pacific total INCs3625
Pacific INCs/facility inspection0.130.08
Pacific INCS/inspection type0.040.03
Alaska facility inspections85
Alaska inspection types3722
Alaska W INCs01
Alaska CSI INCs01
Alaska FSI INCs00
Alaska INCs total02
Alaska INCs/facility inspection00.4
Alaska INCS/inspection type00.09
INC=incident of noncompliance, W=warning, CSI=component shut-in, FSI=facility shut-in.
No Alaska facilities are located on the Federal OCS. One Alaska facility, Hilcorp’s Northstar island, has wells that are completed on the OCS; hence the limited BSEE inspections.
  • Must average <0.3 incidents of noncompliance (INCs) per facility-inspection.
  • Must average <0.1 INCs per inspection-type. (Note that each facility-inspection may include multiple types of inspections (e.g. production, pipeline, pollution, Coast Guard, site security, etc). On average, each facility-inspection included 3.3 types of inspections in 2023. Here is a list of the types of inspections that may be performed.
  • Must operate at least 3 production platforms and have drilled at least one well (i.e. you need operational activity to demonstrate compliance and safety achievement).
  • May not have a disqualifying event (e.g. fatal or life-threatening incident, significant fire, major oil spill). Due to the extreme lag in updates to BSEE’s incident tables, district investigations and media reports are used to make this determination.