Halifax, Nova Scotia _ Welaptega Marine is pleased to announce that it has completed a first with its in-water baseline survey on the mooring system of BP’s Skarve floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel in the Northern North Sea, Norway.
The in-water inspection was completed after a dry baseline inspection conducted in 2010 prior to installation.
Welaptega’s team of offshore engineers deployed its Chain Measurement System (CMS), 3D modeling system and the Rope Measurement System (RMS) to complete a full survey of rope and chain moorings.
This is part of BPs on-going risk based integrity program to help the operator understand the condition of the mooring system over the lifetime of the FPSO.
By Tony Hall,
CEO Welaptega Marine
Hurricane Isaac has caused an estimated $500 million to $1 billion in damages to the offshore energy sector in the Gulf of Mexico.
According to the catastrophic risk modelling firm Eqecat this includes lost production and fixed platforms, floating facilities and subsea infrastructure.
Hurricane Isaac did not inflict the damage on Gulf of Mexico offshore infrastructure that hurricanes Ike and Gustave did in 2008.
In that year, 60 offshore platforms were destroyed and more than 100 were damaged, this despite the fact that many damaged platforms were designed with hurricane forces in mind.
But Hurricane Isaac is yet another wake up call to offshore oil and gas sector, insurance companies, regulators and investors.
Huge costs of damage and lost production
Isaac brought offshore oil and gas production to a near standstill in the Gulf of Mexico. According to the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, all US Mobile Offshore Drilling Units are keeping station.
The damage that occurred in 2008 and in storms of 2005 were also wake-up calls for the offshore oil and gas sector in the Gulf of Mexico. Continue reading “Hurricane Isaac costs Gulf of Mexico $500 million to $1 billion” »
By Tony Hall, CEO and founder of Welaptega Marine
Two years ago today, the Deepwater Horizon drill rig exploded and sunk in the Gulf of Mexico after a series of catastrophic failures.
A blowout of BP’s Macondo well caused a fire and explosion at Transocean’s rig, killing 11 workers and spilling 4.9 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.
It was the worst offshore oil spill in US history.
Gulf of Mexico deep-water drilling was suspended for nearly six months in the wake of the spill.
Safety of rig crews must trump all
The greatest lesson is that safety of the men and women working on the rig must trump all other concerns, according to James Watson, director of the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement at the U.S. Department of the Interior.
He says the U.S. government has made the most far-reaching reforms to offshore energy safety in history.
Sadly, all of those lessons had already been learned in other accidents and operations outside of US jurisdiction. This accident did not need to happen.
Industry is now required to meet strong new safety standards on everything from the design of wells to the way cement is tested to the way human and environmental risk is managed on drilling rigs and production platforms.
Welaptega helped with the oilspill response
Welaptega played a role in stopping the spill. Our 3D modeling cameras were used on site to model the dimensions of the leaking wellhead. This information was used to verify the size of the cap which stopped the leak.
Let’s hope that new safety regulations will take into account the experience of the Deepwater Horizon and other accidents outside the United States so that a tragedy like this will never happen again.
We have entered the “age of the unthinkable” according to Statoil CEO Helge Lund. He was giving the keynote speach CERA2012 risk assessment conference in Houston Texas.
He says the energy industry must engage with a broader social and safety agenda to meet the needs of an increasing complex energy landscape.
“Over the past decades, safety has come even higher on the agenda. For the industry it is a moral obligation to protect our people and run safe operations. I believe our obligations goes beyond that.”
He urged the industry to form partnerships with regulators and society to collaborate on technology development for safety and operational efficiency.
For the full speech click here.
This article was featured in The Chronicle-Herald newspaper after CEO Tony Hall’s presentation to the Atlantic Provinces Economic Council.
By Brett Bundell
It’s the dead of night in the middle of the North Sea. As gale force winds pound against an aging oil rig, its ramshackle moorings give way.Petrified crew members are hoisted from the oil platform, bobbing up and down in the pitch-black waters, to the safety of a chopper.
“It happened last winter,” Tony Hall, founder and CEO of Welaptega Marine Ltd., said Thursday. “If you’re working on an offshore floating platform during a storm, it’s good to know the company has done everything possible to make it safe.”
The Halifax company has developed advanced technologies to inspect aging offshore oil and gas platforms.
By Gail Lethbridge
One year ago today, the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded and sank in the Gulf of Mexico, leading to the worst environmental disaster in US history.
It took lives – 11 workers died.
4.9 million barrels of oil leaked from the BP Macondo well, causing extensive damage to marine, air and land-based wildlife, and the fishing and tourism industries. It was 86 days before the spill was stopped.
Welaptega Marine helped with the solution. We built a high-resolution 3D model to confirm the dimensions of the damaged wellhead. A cap was successfully installed on July 15, 2010.
By MetaPower
The answer to this important question should not be about targeting managers as convenient scapegoats— the most available culprits when industrial accidents occur.
There are too many incidents for it to be a prob- lem with individual managers.
And we’ve witnessed our share of accidents lately—the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, and mining catastrophes in West Virginia and Chile. Why is it that with all our technology we can’t pre- vent these disasters?
Many are starting to believe that the problem lies with the industry’s culture. Can this be true? Is it possible that all our technology is being thwarted by this nebulous thing called “culture”?
With the CLEAR Act (H.R. 3534) “Oil Spill Bill” in hand, roughly 209 members of Congress will leave for summer recess feeling secure. After all, they’ll have something to wave at their constituents back home to prove they’ve taken action to ensure that a disaster like the one in the Gulf of Mexico never happens again.
Continue reading “The Way Forward for the Offshore Oil and Gas Industry” »
This commentary by Welaptega CEO Tony Hall appeared in newspapers and websites across the US
By Sunday, mud and cement will permanently seal the Macondo Well of BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil rig that blew up on April 20th, killing 11 people. But we can’t bury what it uncovered.
Continue reading “After the BP spill: safety must be focus” »
