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Posts Tagged ‘North Sea’

Hywind turbine maintenance completed; Equinor declares victory. California time frame?

Posted in California, Norway, Offshore Wind, UK, tagged , , , , , , on October 22, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Hywind Scotland, Equinor

Equinor reports that all 5 Hywind turbines have been returned to service after being towed to Norway as part of a 4-month maintenance campaign.

Even though the turbines had only been in operation since 2017, Equinor puts a positive spin on the 4-month maintenance outage, declaring total victory:

“The successful completion of the maintenance campaign on Hywind Scotland is a testament to the collaborative efforts of our teams and partners. As the world’s first floating offshore wind farm, Hywind Scotland has demonstrated the immense potential of floating wind. Through this maintenance campaign, we’ve gained valuable insights that will help us refine maintenance practices and optimise this technology for the future. By sharing our learnings, we aim to contribute to the growth and development of the floating wind industry.”

Some of the folks in Scotland have a different take as evidenced in this video:

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

Looking forward, the first power generation from floating wind turbines on the Central Coast is forecast for 2034. Betters may want to take the over!

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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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Norway continues to be a leader in assessing offshore safety risks

Posted in accidents, Norway, Offshore Energy - General, tagged , , , , , on April 18, 2024| Leave a Comment »

PSA Norway, now Havtil, has long been a pacesetter in analyzing offshore incident and performance data, and publishing timely, comprehensive assessments. Their key findings for 2023 are pasted below (emphasis added):

  • Hydrocarbon leaks: four on the NCS in 2023 – the lowest figure since the RNNP survey began. None of them are considered particularly serious.
  • Well control incidents: 11 in 2023. The level is stable, with the figure unchanged from 2022, and all had a low potential.
  • Structural damage: three incidents were reported in 2023, a halving from the year before.
  • Total major accident indicator: the annual value is the lowest ever, and the average for the past three years declined. No particularly serious incidents occurred in 2023.
  • Personal injuries: no accidents resulting in fatalities occurred in the petroleum sector during 2023, while 25 serious personal injuries were reported. The serious injury frequency rose to 0.6 per million hours worked (back to the 2021 level), and lay within the expected range based on the 10 previous years.
  • Questionnaire survey: responses to this biennial poll showed an improvement from 2021 in most of the indices for the HSE climate and the psychosocial working environment. Furthermore, some challenges are seen with regard to language and parallel operations leading to hazardous conditions.

Havtil informs me that the complete “Trends in Risk Level (RNNP)” report for 2023 will be available in English later this month. A link to the report will be posted on this blog.

On a related note, JL Daeschler has brought The Norwegian Oil Pioneer Club’s website to my attention. Those interested in the history of North Sea exploration and production should take a look! A couple of pictures from the site are pasted below.

Svein and Axel, North Sea pioneers, 1966
Sinking of the Ocean Prince, 1968

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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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Fatality while training to save offshore workers

Posted in accidents, Norway, offshore, tagged , , , , , , on February 29, 2024| Leave a Comment »

“The Sikorsky S-92 helicopter is the most advanced aircraft in Sikorsky’s civil product line, certified to the most stringent safety requirements of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).” 

One person has died following the helicopter crash outside Bergen in Norway on the night of Wednesday 28th February. The helicopter was on a training assignment for Equinor ’s SAR service for the Oseberg area in the North Sea.

Equinor

Search and rescue service is critical to offshore safety, and North Sea operators have excellent SAR capabilities. Sadly, one person died and five were injured (two seriously) when a Sikorsky S-92 helicopter, owned by Bristow and under contract to Equinor, crashed offshore Bergen last night. The crew was training to serve offshore workers in need.

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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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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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35 years ago today, fires and explosions destroyed the Piper Alpha platform in the North Sea and killed 167 workers. We must never forget this tragedy.

Posted in accidents, Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General, Regulation, UK, tagged , , , , , on July 6, 2023| Leave a Comment »

The Piper Alpha fire was the worst disaster in the history of offshore oil and gas operations and sent shock waves around the world. Eight months later another interactive pipeline-platform fire killed 7 workers at the South Pass 60 “B” facility in the Gulf of Mexico. A US Minerals Management Service task group reviewed the investigation reports for both fires and recommended regulatory changes with regard to:

  1. the identification and notification procedures for out-of-service safety devices and systems,
  2. location and protection of pipeline risers,
  3. diesel and helicopter fuel storage areas and tanks,
  4. approval of pipeline repairs, and
  5. location of ESD valves on pipelines.

Paul Schneider and I wrote a paper on the task group’s findings and that paper was published in Offshore Operations Post Piper Alpha (Institute of Marine Engineers,1991). The proposed regulations that followed summarized these findings and can be be found at this Federal Register link.

Lord Cullen’s comprehensive inquiry into the Piper Alpha tragedy challenged traditional thinking about regulation and how safety objectives could best be achieved, and was perhaps the most important report in the history of offshore oil and gas operations. Per Cullen:

“Many current safety regulations are unduly restrictive because they impose solutions rather than objectives. They also are out of date in relation to technological advances. Guidance notes lend themselves to interpretations that discourage alternatives. There is a danger that compliance takes precedence over wider safety considerations and that sound innovations are discouraged.“

Cullen advocated management systems that describe the safety objectives, the system by which those objectives were to be achieved, the performance standards to be met, and the means by which adherence to those standards was to be monitored. He called for safety cases that describe major hazards on an installation and provide appropriate safety measures. Per Cullen, each operator should be required in the safety case to demonstrate that the safety management systems of the company and the installation are adequate to assure that design and operation of the platform and its equipment are safe.

Links for the full Piper Alpha Inquiry: volume 1 and volume 2

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Rigs-to-Roosts!

Posted in Offshore Energy - General, Offshore Wind, rigs-to-reefs, tagged , , , on August 29, 2022| Leave a Comment »

GUILDFORD, UK — Alpha Petroleum Resources, Energean UK and Orsted Hornsea Project Four will consider repurposing the Wenlock gas platform in the UK southern North Sea, which is nearing the end of its productive life.

One possibility is to reuse the facility as an artificial nesting site to offset the impact on certain bird species of offshore wind developments in the area.

Black-legged kittiwakes have set up nests on various North Sea platforms, according to Orsted’s recent surveys. Repurposing an existing platform as an artificial nesting structure is seen as an alternative to building a new artificial nesting structure to support the local development of the Hornsea Four offshore wind farm.

Offshore Magazine

See our Rigs-to-Reefs+++ page!

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