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Tag: oil rig

  • Over 300 people evacuated from oil rig

    Over 300 people evacuated from oil rig

    Oil rig in the northern sea

    Norway’s state-owned energy giant Statoil on Wednesday evacuated around 330 people from a North Sea platform off the coast of Norway after it began listing.

    “Around 330 people were evacuated and we’re halting the evacuation at this stage,” said Einar Knudsen, a spokesman for the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre Southern Norway. Just over 40 people were to stay on the rig for security work, he added.

    The Floatel Superior, effectively a floating hotel for staff working on the neighbouring Njord A production platform, was evacuated after the rig had tilted four degrees due to a leak in one of the ballast tanks, Statoil said.

    The rupture appeared to have been caused by a collision with an anchor.

    The Njord A itself, which lies about 50 nautical miles from land, is currently closed for maintenance, according to the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate.

    The rig was stabilized an hour later after other ballast tanks were partially flooded to balance it, but as a safety precaution all non-essential personnel, meaning the vast majority of the 374 people on board, were evacuated.

    “We normally have two layers of protection against leaks, and since there remained only one, we decided to bring non-essential personnel to safety,” group spokesman Ola Anders Skauby told AFP.

    “We take the situation seriously,” he said, adding that it was normal to prepare for a worst case scenario.

    Six helicopters were deployed to the area, in difficult weather, according to the rescue centre. Employees were airlifted from the Floatel to Njord A, Knudsen said.

    Source:
    The Local

  • Final order in Kolskaya case

    Final order in Kolskaya case

    Kolskoya Oil rig

    Yesterday the High Court of Murmansk declared the 24 missing Kolskaya workers, dead.

    On the 18th of December 2011, newspapers from all over the world announced 53 victims after an oil rig overturned in the Sea of Okhotsk in the Russian Far East. National and international search and rescue services were called the same night to conduct one of the most difficult rescue actions in the world´s history.

    Yesterday, 1st of August 2012, a bit more than half a year after the tragedy occurred, the court of Murmansk declared last crew members whose bodies have never been found, dead.

    The decision was valuable for families of the missing ones, who will now receive the compensation from AMNGR Company.

    In March 2012, the director of AMNGR was fired, after the investigation proved that several mistakes were made during the towing operation. According to the reports, AMNGR failed to evacuate ´non – essential´ member of the rig before towing. What is more, it was found out that the distress signal was sent out far too late for the rescue ice – breaker to come in time.

    The Kolskaya tragedy was without a doubt, the largest accident in the Russian history of oil and gas sector.

    Source

    AMNGR Press Centre

  • Aker Solutions Wins Cat B Well Intervention Contract from Statoil

    Aker Solutions Wins Cat B Well Intervention Contract from Statoil

    Oil rig

    Statoil awarded Aker Solutions a contract today for hiring of an entirely new type of rig which represents an important technological advance for the industry. The category B rig will be an important contribution towards increasing recovery from existing fields.

    Development of technology for increasing the recovery from operating fields is an area of commitment for Statoil. For the last year, the average oil recovery rate from Statoil operated fields has risen from 49 percent to 50 percent.

    The category B rig is designed and equipped for the industrialization of drilling and intervention services in existing production wells and represent a new sort of service.

    A cooperation with the supplier industry, Statoil has developed a new type of rig and well control system specially adapted to carry out well intervention and drilling operations in existing subsea wells.

    This type of rig fills the gap between light intervention vessels (category A) and conventional rigs (category C). The category B rig with associated integrated services is expected to reduce operating costs for well intervention by as much as 40%.

    Statoil and the licensees will enter into an eight-year contract with options for three times two years for the category B service. The estimated value of the contract is USD 1.9 billion. In addition to rig rental, the contract also includes rental of the necessary equipment and services to carry out well intervention, sidetrack drilling, ROV operations, well testing and cementing. The rig will be in service during 2015.

    Source: World Maritime News
  • Tragedy after oil rig sinks

    Tragedy after oil rig sinks

    The tug boat and the Kolskoya before the accident

    An oil rig sunk yesterday in the Sea of Okhotsk where 14 people lost their lives. Many are still missing but 67 were on the rig.

    The wind was blowing at 25 m/s and the waves were 5 to 6 metres high. The rig overturned and started taking in water. It sank in only 20 minutes and the temperature of the ocean was around 1°.

    14 people were rescued. They were on duty on deck during the towing and were wearing survival suits and life-jackets.

    The Russian Media is criticising rescue operators because the whole crew was in the oil rig when it was being towed.

    According to Russian instructions for safety at sea, only a required minimum of personnel should be onboard a vessel that is being towed. The Russian Agency for Transport Supervision has started investigation of the accident.

    “Kolskaya” belongs to the Murmansk-based company Arktikmorneftegazrazvedka and had just finished work under a contract with energy giant Gazprom in the Sea of Okhotsk.

    The weather conditions are thought to be the reason for the accident, not any other problems have been found.

    Source: Barents Observer