Oil And Gas Safety News

A fire broke out earlier this week on a fast rescue craft aboard the Siem Diamond offshore support vessel in the Atlantic Ocean, east of St. John's Canada.According to the C-NLOPB, the offshore oil and gas safety body for the Newfoundland and Labrador area, oil firm Equinor informed the regulator that the incident had struck on Wednesday morning, September 16, 2020.The Siem Diamond was, at the time of the incident, on standby for the Transocean Barents semi-submersible drilling rig."All personnel safely mustered, there were no injuries and all personnel were accounted for. The fire team was able to quickly extinguish the fire, however, the FRC received extensive damage and was deemed unavailable.

Delivery of the FPSO destined for Equinor's Johan Castberg field in the Barents Sea is expected to be delayed after the company found issues with the weld quality and fatigue calculations program.The FPSO hull was ordered by Equinor (then known as Statoil) back in 2017 from Singapore's Sembcorp Marine and it was at the time said that the construction of the hull was "the most time-critical delivery for the completion of the Johan Castberg project," first production from which…

Oil and gas companies Equinor and ConocoPhillips on Friday received approvals for drilling of offshore wells in the North Sea, and the Norwegian Sea, respectively.Equinor has been given a regulatory approval from the oil and gas safety body PSA Norway to drill a sidetrack in an exploration well 35/11-24 in the North Sea, at the Swisher prospect.The well 35/11-24 B will be drilled in the water depth of 356 meters. Equinor will use Seadrill’s 2008-built West Hercules semi-submersible drilling rig. The drilling is expected to take 63 days to complete.The drilling of the Swisher follows a recent success by Equinor at the Atlantis well, using the same rig, also in the North Sea.

In the report entitled Enhancing offshore safety and environmental performance, DNV suggests critical levers to provide a more holistic safety framework across the oil and gas industry. CEO Remi Eriksen, DNV Maritime and Oil & Gas, said new regulations, such as the EU directive, mirror society’s zero tolerance for offshore accidents. “The offshore industry has achieved an outstanding improvement in occupational safety over the past three decades. Although it has learned much from major accidents in the past, such accidents are still occurring. In launching “Enhancing offshore safety and environmental performance,” DNV said it aims to offer guidance to build a safer working environment.

As part of the Obama administration’s ongoing efforts to strengthen the oil and gas industry’s ability to respond in the event of a deepwater blowout and ensure that offshore oil and gas production can continue to expand safely and responsibly, Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) Director Jim Watson launched an unannounced exercise to deploy critical pieces of state-of-the-art well control equipment to the ultra-deep seabed of the Gulf of Mexico. The exercise employs Helix Well Containment Group’s capping stack system…

As part of the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement’s (BSEE) commitment to promoting offshore safety at all levels, at all times, Director Jim Watson has announced another step in a series of efforts to further identify, address and manage operational safety hazards and impacts, with the goal of enhancing both human safety and environmental protection on the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf. This step is also in line with the Administration’s focus on expanding safe and responsible development of our oil and gas resources…

An Offshore Northern Seas (ONS) poll reveals industry professionals see Arctic exploration as viable solution for Norway. The Industry Snapshot Poll was conducted at ONS by global independent technical advisor, GL Noble Denton. Senior professionals from across the industry also took part in the survey online. 74% of participants said that the development of sizeable reserves in Arctic waters offshore Norway could reverse the country’s diminishing North Sea production rates by 2030. By contrast, only 26% of participants felt Norway would not be able to abate the decline through Arctic exploration. Lutz Wittenberg, GL Noble Denton’s Executive Vice President for Europe, said: “The remote Arctic region is becoming more attractive to the industry as a whole.

MWCC to Deploy Capping Stack in Gulf of Mexico. The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) has initiated the first ever drill designed to deploy critical pieces of state-of-the-art well control equipment to the ultra-deep seabed of the Gulf of Mexico in an effort to exercise the oil and gas industry’s response to a potential subsea blowout. The multi-week exercise, launched at 8:10 am CDT and employing the Marine Well Containment Company (MWCC), is part of a series…

With its HQ in Aberdeen, NSL is one of the industry's leading safety training companies and a supplier of specialist personnel, operating globally out of bases in the UK and the USA and through a partner, has operations in Baku, Azerbaijan. “NSL is a highly regarded business in the oil and gas safety training market and I am delighted that we can welcome its team to ASCO. This acquisition supports our growth strategy allowing us to seize the exciting opportunities that lie ahead for ASCO, notably by providing a wider scope of oil and gas services in addition to our logistics, waste management and freight services. It offers exciting opportunities for all involved. The value of this acquisition has not been disclosed.

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today named Rear Admiral James A. Watson IV as the Director of the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE). BSEE was one of the two agencies to succeed the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE) on Oct. 1, 2011. Admiral Watson will begin as BSEE Director on December 1, 2011, and will succeed Michael R. Bromwich. Admiral Watson is currently the U.S. Coast Guard’s Director of Prevention Policy for Marine Safety, Security and Stewardship in Washington, D.C.

On October 12, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar determined it is appropriate that deepwater oil and gas drilling resume, provided that operators certify compliance with all existing rules and requirements, including those that recently went into effect, and demonstrate the availability of adequate blowout containment resources. Secretary Salazar reached his decision after reviewing a report from Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation, and Enforcement (BOEM) Director Michael R. Bromwich and considering other information on the progress of offshore oil and gas safety reforms, the availability of spill response resources, and improved blowout containment capabilities.