Royal Dutch Shell Group .com Rotating Header Image

The Sunday Telegraph: Shell rejects North Sea rig safety fears

By Russell Hotten
Last Updated: 11:25pm GMT 02/02/2008

Safety conditions on Shell’s five oil platforms in the North Sea have been called into question amid a row over alleged “industrial gangsterism” and claims that a manager in charge of the rigs believes the backlog of maintenance has reached “appalling levels”.

In an e-mail leaked to oil industry unions, it is alleged the manager warns that the Health & Safety Executive could close the operations unless standards improve and that disciplinary action will be taken against workers who refuse “reasonable requests” to do overtime.

The contract company carrying out maintenance on the platforms says the e-mail, published in a trade union magazine, may have been doctored. But the dispute underlines the strength of divisions on Shell’s North Sea rigs and will be an embarrassment for the oil giant, which last week announced profits of £13.9bn – a record for a European business.

Shell’s platforms, which are up for sale, are maintained by Sigma 3, a consortium comprising Amec, Petroleum Services, Network and Wood Group. Unions have long complained about a lack of investment in Shell’s rigs and of pressure to work longer hours to improve safety standards. Last year the HSE issued a damning report saying that maintenance on many of the 100-plus platforms in the North Sea was “unacceptable”, but did not name names.

In the e-mail, written in November and seen by The Sunday Telegraph, the manager writes: “Backlog on safety critical systems is at appalling levels by any standard and is an issue with the HSE.” Any contractor who refuses a “reasonable request to work overtime. . . will be subject to relevant disciplinary procedures,” he warns.

The e-mail was leaked to Jake Molloy, the general secretary of the Offshore Industry Liaison Committee (OILC), the union representing North Sea workers. He said it was an admission by the company that standards on the platforms were poor and called on Shell to put some of its record profits into improving things.

“More investment, not forcing people to work longer hours, is what is needed to improve safety. Perhaps sufficient manning and not industrial gangsterism is the solution,” wrote Quinn.

He added that workers were being forced to do 13-hour shifts, which the HSE had said in its report would be excessive. “You should not have to rely on overtime for safety-critical work. It should be an essential part of the standard working day,” he said.

Sigma said yesterday: “The statement in the personal e mail is factually incorrect. The safety-critical backlog was not and is not at unacceptable levels.”

Details of the e-mail and the name of the senior manager alleged to have sent it are published in the OILC’s magazine. However, Sigma said it was investigating whether the e-mail had been doctored, saying that the manager did not remember using the word “appalling”.

The dispute with oil workers and concerns over safety are unlikely to help Shell find a buyer for the North Sea assets. One of the rigs, Dunlin, is being sold to Fairfield Energy but the deal is awaiting completion.

Shell is withdrawing from the North Sea operations because oil and gas reserves are in decline. On Thursday the company said it was planning a big increase in capital expenditure this year, using money from disposals to invest in more productive oil and gas fields around the world.

Shell said yesterday: “Safety is our top priority. Two years ago Shell started a $1.2bn asset integrity programme. It is approximately 70 per cent complete.

“A number of allegations have been made by unions and staff regarding safety since an announcement on June 14 2007 of plans to offer these assets to potential purchasers. These allegations have been investigated by the HSE and a number of issues have been worked on. However, the HSE has seen no need to either seize any production or to serve any improvement notices.”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2008/02/03/cnshell103.xml

This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Comments are closed.