Understanding the environmental conditions at a site are important to determine when offloading operations need to be suspended or when an offloading tanker needs to be disconnected. BMT Argoss naval architect Wojciech Misiag explains why optimising…
For years the oil & gas industry has faced a looming skills shortage: older, more experienced personnel are leaving the business while an influx of new blood with limited experience is coming onboard. Finding solutions for this skill shortage was on the minds of attendees at the Galveston forum…
Baker Hughes has a new tubing retrievable, subsurface safety valve for ultra deep-set, deepwater and HPHT applications. The REACH subsurface safety valves can be set as deep as 20,000ft and ensure fail-safe-closed operation using reliable, field-proven…
The FROG in actionReflex Marine demos FROG transport in HoustonReflex Marine, a global leader in safe marine transfer solutions, has attracted interest from operators in the Gulf of Mexico after hosting a crane and lifting open day at its new Accredited Service Center (ASC) in Houston…
Black Elk Energy production platformBody indentified as missing Grand Isle workerThe death toll from Black Elk Energy's 16 November platform fire has risen to three as the body of the sole missing worker has been recovered off Grand Isle…
US Coast Guard PhotoA second worker has died of injuries sustained after a fire broke out on Black Elk Energy's production platform in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, the Philippine Embassy in Washington D.C. announced on 23 November 2012.Baton…
Photo: Harald Pettersen / StatoilProduction at Statoil's Hammerfest LNG plant in Melkøya was shut after a power failure on Monday, the company announced on 19 November 2012.The power went down just before 2:30 p.m. and remained down for approximately 20 minutes…
As 2011 drew to a close, yet another Deepwater Horizon report surfaced, this time from the National Academy of Engineering. Russell McCulley reports on the findings, as well as other late-year news involving ongoing legal wrangling between BP and its Macondo contractors…
Smoke plume rising from Black Elk Energy production platformTwo contractors are missing and 11 were injured when an oil production platform offshore Louisiana caught on fire, the U.S. Coast Guard announced on 16 November 2012.At the time of the fire…
Specialist firefighting knowledge, strategic support and equipment is to be provided by Chubb Fire & Security for Total E&P UK under a five-year contract. Chubb’s Offshore Marine division will deliver the renewed contract, which covers the operator’s Alwyn North…
Human factors, such as lapses in concentration, mistakes and violations, are frequently cited as the root cause of incidents in the offshore oil & gas industry. Changing these behaviours has therefore been identified as key to reducing recordable incidents and improving overall safety performance…
Problems of the kind encountered by the Deepwater Horizon and Sedco 711 are not unique and being judgemental with the benefit of hindsight is futile, argues drilling consultant Dr John Thorogood. Pointing out that there is much still to be learned about human error…
An offshore scaffolding safety innovation from RBG has attracted industry plaudits aplenty since its launch last year and has already been adopted by Apache North Sea on a number of its platforms. In this opener to OE's HSE two-parter, Bill Abbott outlines the thinking behind PlusGard…
Citing a ‘renewed culture of safety' taking hold in the offshore oil & gas industry, the co-chairman of the presidential commission set up to investigate the Macondo disaster told attendees at the March CeraWeek conference in Houston that the…
New software developed by naval architects and marine engineering consultants Safety at Sea to address the International Maritime Organization's challenging regulations on a ship's safe return offers potential for aspects of offshore vessel design…