The people of Blackpool may have barely felt a shudder, but the repercussions could be wide-reaching.
Measuring just 1.5 on the Richter scale, the seaside town escaped a recent earthquake totally unscathed.
But it was the latest in a series of ‘natural’ disasters, that are not considered natural at all – they are man-made.
Now the UK’s only ‘shale’ gas drilling project has been suspended after it emerged that the controversial technique may have caused the tremors.
Posts Tagged ‘UK’
Shale gas drilling linked to earthquakes in the UK
Posted in drilling, tagged earthquakes, shale gas, UK on June 1, 2011| Leave a Comment »
Upstream: Gryphon Alpha FPSO down for a year
Posted in accidents, Offshore Energy - General, UK, tagged FPSO, Gryphon Alpha, Maersk, mooring failures, North Sea, UK on May 11, 2011| Leave a Comment »
A Maersk Oil-owned FPSO which was damaged during heavy storms in the North Sea in February will be out of action for another year as it heads for drydock repairs. Upstream
Interesting UK Safety Items
Posted in accidents, Norway, Offshore Energy - General, Regulation, UK, tagged accidents, gas leaks, HSE, Norway, safety, UK on May 10, 2011| Leave a Comment »
The HSE has told Shell to submit a revised safety case for the Brent Charlie platform after gas was detected on its topsides following leaks on 12 January this year and 27 September 2010, Upstream can reveal.
Shell, which took the decision itself to close the platform after the January incident, has been battling for some time to resolve technically complex issues related to the venting of gas from inside one the platform’s huge concrete legs — Column 1 (C1) — and dispersing it effectively away from the platform.
The operator now expects the ageing Brent field to remain shut down for several more months.
UK: Climate Committee Prefers Onshore Wind Turbines
Posted in Offshore Energy - General, Offshore Wind, Wind Energy, tagged Committee on Climate Change, George Hagerman, UK, wind turbines on May 10, 2011| Leave a Comment »
In a report into the future of energy, the influential Committee on Climate Change calls on the Government to scale back plans to build thousands of turbines off the coast of Britain.
Instead, the report calls for hundreds more wind turbines to be built onshore at a lower cost over the next eight years.Daily Mail UK
On the other hand, offshore locations have stronger, more consistent winds, and minimal aesthetic and noise impacts. Is the public going to accept massive onshore wind development?
I continue to be intrigued by the concept of offshore energy units which integrate natural gas and wind projects to ensure consistent power supply. (See slide below from a presentation by George Hagerman, Virginia Tech Advanced Research Institute)
Diving fatality in the UK offshore sector
Posted in accidents, UK, tagged diving, fatality, North Sea, offshore oil and gas, UK on April 15, 2011| Leave a Comment »
Per the Evening Express in Aberdeen:
A DIVER working for an oil company has died at sea.
The 49-year-old oil worker took ill while diving with the Acergy Osprey, operated by Subsea7 which is based in Westhill.
No other information is available at this time.
Mooring Line Failures, Evacuation at Gryphon Alpha FPSO
Posted in accidents, UK, tagged accidents, FPSO, Gryphon Alpha, mooring failures, UK on February 5, 2011| 3 Comments »
Gryphon Alpha FPSO
A BBC report (forwarded by Cheryl Anderson) indicates that 70+ workers were safely evacuated from the Gryphon Alpha Floating Production Storage and Offloading facility in the UK sector of the North Sea. Four of the FPSO’s ten mooring lines failed in 30-foot seas and high winds which allowed the vessel to roll up to 12 degrees. 40 essential personnel remained aboard the facility.
While mooring system failures have been relatively common during hurricanes and other major storms (in the Gulf of Mexico, this problem was addressed through comprehensive MMS-industry programs after the 2005 hurricane season), such failures are much less common at floating production facilities. We await the findings of the UK’s inquiry.
UK Parliamentary Report Link and Comment
Posted in accidents, UK, well control incidents, tagged accidents, blowouts, Deepwater Horizon, drilling, Energy and Climate Change Committee, Gulf of Mexico, macondo, parliament, safety, UK, well control on January 6, 2011| 1 Comment »
What?
The blowout in the Gulf of Mexico could have been prevented if the last-line of defence—the blind shear ram on the blowout preventer, located at the well head on the ocean floor—had activated and crushed the drill pipe. Given the importance of this equipment, and the evident dangers of relying on a single device, we urge the HSE to consider prescribing specifically that blowout preventers on the UK Continental Shelf should have two blind shear rams.
Comments:
- The UK government should NOT be commenting on the BOP failure until the US government has completed its forensic testing and investigation.
- The Committee has apparently not paid any attention to the testimony on the BOP issues or the other BOP information that has surfaced. Have they not seen the comments from BP and Transocean or the videos shot on the Q4000?
- Would it have been appropriate for the US government to publish a report on Piper Alpha before Lord Cullen had completed his review?
UK Parliamentary Committee releases post-Macondo report
Posted in accidents, UK, well control incidents, tagged accidents, blowouts, Deepwater Horizon, drilling, Energy and Climate Change Committee, Gulf of Mexico, macondo, North Sea, offshore oil, parliament, safety, UK, well control on January 5, 2011| Leave a Comment »
The UK Energy and Climate Change Committee has released its report entitled “UK Deepwater Drilling – Implications of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.” We’ll post the report as we get a link.
A moratorium on oil drilling in deep waters off Britain would undermine the country’s energy security, according to a report by lawmakers published on Thursday in response to the BP spill disaster last year.
US tension, UK resolve
Posted in drilling, Offshore Energy - General, tagged Deepwater Horizon, drilling, Gulf of Mexico, offshore oil, UK on January 3, 2011| Leave a Comment »
Wall Street Journal on on Gulf delays
The Energy Information Administration, the research arm of the Department of Energy, last month predicted that domestic offshore oil production will fall 13% this year from 2010 due to the moratorium and the slow return to drilling; a year ago, the agency predicted offshore production would rise 6% in 2011. The difference: a loss of about 220,000 barrels of oil a day.
UK moves ahead with deepwater drilling
MPs have ruled out a moratorium on deep water drilling in the North Sea, despite concerns it could lead to a disaster worse than BP’s oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico last year.
Shallow water struggle (Wall Street Journal)
From bad to worse for shelf operations:
“We were on our knees when Macondo hit,” said Jim Noe, senior vice president and general counsel for Hercules.
West of Shetlands Update
Posted in gas, Offshore Energy - General, tagged offshore, UK, West of Shetlands on November 26, 2010| Leave a Comment »
The Economist reports on the Laggan-Tormore gas project :
The £2.5 billion project, approved earlier this year, should deliver its first gas in 2014—a full 28 years after the Laggan field was discovered, a delay that exemplifies the region’s challenges. The field was too small and remote to justify the construction of a pipeline until the nearby Tormore field was discovered in 2007.
Bud's Offshore Energy (BOE) 