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North Sea Platforms

Offshore industry ‘perilously close to disasters’ warning from HSE

The Health and Safety Executive has written to all oil and gas operators expressing concern about the number of gas releases in the industry.

The regulator said some had come “perilously close to disaster” and that more needed to be done to tackle them.

The HSE said a “lack of leadership” was often to blame for leaks, and called for firms to review their processes.

Operators have until July to respond with a summary of their planned improvements.

The HSE has written to operators ahead of the 30th anniversary of the Piper Alpha disaster. The platform exploded in July 1988, leaving 167 men dead. read more

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The North Sea Oil Recovery Is Dead In The Water

By Nick Cunningham – Sep 07, 2017, 6:00 PM CDT

The oil majors issued a vote of confidence for the North Sea in recent days, citing precipitous declines in the cost of production, which they say will revive the region’s oil and gas production.

At an oil industry conference in the North Sea’s oil capital, Aberdeen, the chief executives of BP and Royal Dutch Shell both offered bullish assessments for the turnaround underway off the coast of Scotland. BP’s Bob Dudley said the North Sea is “back to growth,” according to the FT. read more

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BP, Shell tie future to North Sea despite broad retreat

* BP, Shell plan around 10 exploration wells

* Both companies have sold many North Sea assets

* Shell aims to keep production stable into 2030

* BP to double North Sea production by 2020

By Ron Bousso 

ABERDEEN, Scotland, Sept 6 (Reuters) – Two of the most veteran oil and gas producers in the UK North Sea, Royal Dutch Shell and BP, still tie their future to the ageing offshore basin despite a broad retreat in recent years.

Both companies plan to explore this year for new resources in the North Sea, one of the oldest deepwater hubs faced with harsh weather conditions, executives told Reuters.

The two oil giants have sold billions worth of North Sea fields, many of them nearing the end of their life, in recent years. But still they see golden opportunities there as new technologies open up resources that can be profitable with oil trading at around $50 a barrel and in some cases lower. read more

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Changes to the North Sea tax regime

Screen Shot 2015-03-23 at 19.19.14PRESS RELEASE – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Quo Vadis – Budget 2015: a further step in the right direction

Hannon Westwood welcomes the changes to the North Sea tax regime announced by the Chancellor on Wednesday, aimed at stimulating and prolonging investment in the UKCS. Significant and positive steps have been taken to relieve the overall tax burden and this will assist with counterbalancing the effects of the recent collapse in oil price and consequent job losses in the industry.

The key measures are: a ten percentage cut in the supplementary charge, effective from 1 January 2015 – a decrease from 30% to 20%, following a 2% cut implemented in the 2014 Autumn Statement; a cut in the rate of petroleum revenue tax (PRT) from 50% to 35% for PRT-paying fields as of 2016; a new UK Continental Shelf Investment Allowance aimed at simplifying the existing system of complex offshore field allowances. The new allowance will exempt a portion of profits equal to 62.5% of a company’s qualifying investment expenditure from the Supplementary Charge. It will be available for projects in new and existing fields, and will apply to investment expenditure incurred on or after 1 April 2015. read more

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That sinking Feeling

Financial Times article by Christopher Adams, Michael Kavanagh and Chris Tighe: 25 Feb 2015

Screen Shot 2015-02-26 at 08.36.16

That sinking feeling

North Sea oil was a challenge before prices halved. Now the UK industry fears a fatal blow

The plunge in prices, a tax system that deters investment and a failure by producers to co-operate could lead to a wave of early field closures and accelerated moves to decommissioning.

FULL ARTICLE

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Prelude FLNG risks are on par with modern offshore oil and gas facilities say Shell – but are they?

Screen Shot 2014-09-23 at 18.54.34Final article in a series of five articles by Bill Campbell, retired HSE Group Auditor, Shell International, about risks relating to the Shell Prelude FLNG project.

Prelude FLNG risks are on par with modern offshore oil and gas facilities say Shell – but are they? Let’s discuss 

With the implementation of the recommendations post Piper A, turned quickly into legislation, the potential consequences of hydrocarbon releases have been markedly reduced, but Floating FLNG facilities cannot comply, other than that front end gas feed from the reservoir will be shut in and the process gas flared, huge amounts of volatile hydrocarbon liquids remain stored in the hull, which is also the primary structure supporting the process, utilities and the living quarters.

Prelude for example has in its hull, tanks with a capacity to hold 220,000 m3 of LNG, when the cryogenic liquid is returned to gas this equates to 132 million m3 of methane. It also has capacity for 90,000 m3 of LPG and 126,000 m3 of Condensate, with an overall capacity Shell states equivalent to 175 Olympic swimming pools. read more

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.

Oil giant Shell could face charges over North Sea spill

More than 200 tonnes of oil spilled from Gannet Alpha. Prosecutors will now decide whether Shell should face criminal proceedings.

Screen Shot 2013-09-30 at 11.16.11

Aberdeen Evening Express

Published: 30/09/2013

AN OIL giant could face criminal charges over the worst spill in the North Sea for more than a decade.

A leak in a pipeline saw more than 200 tonnes of light crude oil spew from the Gannet Alpha, 112 miles east of Aberdeen.

Shell was accused of playing down the spill after it estimated 120 barrels had been spilled.

The firm later revised its figure to 1,300 barrels.

The UK Government’s Department for Energy and Climate Change has now completed its probe into the incident and handed its report to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service. read more

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.

North Sea leaks ‘reality check’ for British oil industry, says Greenpeace

Britain’s offshore rigs and platforms have leaked oil or other chemicals into the North Sea on 55 occasions over the past month alone, challenging claims by the industry that it has a strong safety and environmental record. Among the fields to have reported pollution discharges is Piper Alpha, the scene of the world’s worst offshore accident in terms of fatalities when it blew up, killing 167 workers, 25 years ago. Facilities operated by Shell, BP and BG were all offenders, according to the latest petroleum operations notices (PON1s) reported to the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC).

Environmentalists say industry’s arctic safety case undermined by figures showing 55 pollution incidents in last month

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Britain’s offshore rigs and platforms have leaked oil or other chemicals into the North Sea on 55 occasions over the past month alone, challenging claims by the industry that it has a strong safety and environmental record.

Among the fields to have reported pollution discharges is Piper Alpha, the scene of the world’s worst offshore accident in terms of fatalities when it blew up, killing 167 workers, 25 years ago.

Facilities operated by Shell, BP and BG were all offenders, according to the latest petroleum operations notices (PON1s) reported to the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC). read more

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.

Piper Alpha: Fire In The Night

Screen Shot 2013-07-06 at 13.57.15On the 25th anniversary of one of the world’s worst offshore oil disasters, this documentary chronicles the tragic events that occurred on the Piper Alpha rig on the 6th of July 1988.  It was a cataclysm that killed 167 men and left only 61 survivors, each of whom had to fight for their lives to escape the huge, labyrinthine structure and the flames that were consuming it.

For those that have not seen this documentary, on July 9th at 9pm UK time (2200 NL time) BBC2 is broadcasting this documentary again.
 
Piper Alpha: Fire In The Night read more

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Safety failings led to closure

APPARENTLY SHELL’S “TOUCH F*** ALL” SAFETY CULTURE ON NORTH SEA PLATFORMS IS STILL IN FORCE – READ THIS ARTICLE PUBLISHED TODAY

OIL AND GAS

TUESDAY 3rd July 2012

BY ROSS DAVIDSON

A North Sea installation run by Shell was shut for nearly three months because of failings in the offshore giant’s measures to prevent a blast.

The company was served with a Health and Safety Executive prohibition after an inspection revealed its efforts to avoid a fire or explosion on the Leman Alpha platform were not up to scratch.

The firm said yesterday it had restarted production after assessing its procedures.

But one union leader said he could not believe Shell would allow standards to slip so far that the HSE issued an order to suspend operations. read more

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.

Total Elgin/Franklin toxic blowout

13 APRIL 2012

John

Just received this pic from the Elgin-Franklin blowout.

The yellow stuff presumably is sulfur. Not nice stuff.

Blow-out is at the cellar deck from a surface Xmastree.

No idea how sour (H2S content) the gas is, but realise that 1000 ppm (= 0.1%) means instant death.

It is as poisonous or even slightly worse than hydrogen cyanide, the stuff in detective….

Very difficult to approach without full protection gear.

I am glad I am not in the shoes of the Total engineers and management. read more

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.

Safety check backlog at UK oil rigs

A spokesman for Royal Dutch Shell, which also operates in the North Sea said: "Asset integrity is a high priority for Shell. In 2011, we invested around $600 million (379 million pounds) in our North Sea assets, including maintenance. We strive to operate all our assets, regardless of age or location, in a way that meets or exceeds both our global internal standards and relevant legal and regulatory requirements. We are confident that the maintenance plans for our North Sea assets are robust."

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.

Inspection report on spill pipeline ‘overdue by three years’

THE PRESS AND JOURNAL: PAGE 6. MONDAY, February 20, 2012

BY ROSS DAVIDSON

An inspection report on the safety of a pipeline at the centre of the UK’s biggest oil leak in a decade was overdue by three years, officials revealed.

Operator Shell was supposed to assess the integrity of pipelines at Gannet Alpha every four years, but the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) said the audit had not been carried out since 2004.

HSE has issued SheIl with two improvement notices after the firm did not keep the report up-to-date. read more

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Shell Gannet Alpha platform in trouble again

By John Donovan

It seems that Shell’s Gannet Alpha platform has had another close call.

On Monday workers were evacuated and production shut down after natural gas began seeping out from under the platform.

All of the ingredients for a disastrous explosion, of the kind that occurred in the Gulf of Mexico, which almost brought about the demise of BP and the explosion on Shell Brent Bravo, resulting from Shell management (Malcolm Brinded) failing to take adequate action after a safety audit exposed a “Touch F*** All” safety culture and falsification of safety records.
read more

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Shell Gannet Alpha platform evacuated over gas leak

9 February 2012

Nearly 50 workers had to be evacuated from a North Sea oil platform after natural gas began seeping out beneath it, it has emerged.

Shell said staff were taken off the Gannet Alpha installation on Monday as a precaution. Production was shut down.

The oil giant said the incident was not linked to last August’s leak of more than 200 tonnes of oil from a pipeline beneath the Gannet Alpha.

The Health and Safety Executive is investigating.

The Gannet Alpha oil platform is 113 miles (180km) off Aberdeen.

SOURCE ARTICLE

Gas work at leak pipe completed 04 NOVEMBER 2011 ‘No more oil’ from leak pipeline 24 AUGUST 2011

Shell defends safety after leak read more

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Saturday 17 Sept 2011: Explosion warning over Shell platform

The Press and Journal

Explosion warning over Shell platform

Saturday, September 17 2011

Front page lead story running on to page 2.

BY RYAN CRIGHTON

UNDER-PRESSURE oil giant Shell has been issued with an official safety warning over explosion risks at one of its ageing North Sea platforms.

The Health and Safety Executive is raising fears once again about the 35- year-old Brent Charlie platform, which has recorded 61 oil and gas leaks in a decade.

It emerged last night that the company has been served with an improvement notice over its failure to take action to identify “events” that could lead to a major accident, fire or explosion following a gas release. read more

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Shell Brent Charlie Platform Shut-In Since July – Regulator

“A prohibition notice was served on Shell July 1 over hydrocarbon release issues on the Brent C platform. The rig is currently ‘shut in’…


SEPTEMBER 14, 2011

LONDON (Dow Jones)–The U.K. offshore regulator issued Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSA.LN) with two warnings in July for safety incidents at its aged Brent Charlie platform in the North Sea, the Health and Safety Executive website showed Wednesday.

One of the warnings is a more serious prohibition notice, which indicates there is an elevated risk of injury, while the other is an improvement notice, which gives an operator a period of time to correct a potential risk. read more

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SCOTTISH OIL RIGS IN DIRE STRAITS

Mr Campbell insisted it is only a matter of time before there is another major tragedy in the North Sea. He said: “According to public domain data there were 85 gas releases and 443 dangerous occurrences last year. If you are getting 85 gas leaks that’s one and a half, or two, leaks a week. The probability of an undesirable event is very high.”


CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE

By John Donovan

The Sunday Express has today published an article under the headline: “Rusting rigs spark fears of oil tragedy” (above newspaper article) and “SCOTTISH OIL RIGS IN DIRE STRAITS” (online version).

The newspaper approached us for assistance and we were happy to supply extensive information, including the revealing letter we obtained from the Health & Safety Executive that is mentioned in the article.

We also put the Sunday Express journalist Paula Murray into contact with Bill Campbell, the retired HSE Group Auditor of Shell International to led the safety audit team on Shell North Sea platforms in 1999 which exposed a “Touch F*** All” maintenance culture with bodged repairs and falsified safety records. A more recent report (in 2008) by upstreamonline revealed that even the oil rig lifeboats were not seaworthy.
read more

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Shell confirms oil leak in North Sea

guardian.co.uk home

Royal Dutch Shell has said it is working to contain an oil leak at its Gannet Alpha platform in the North Sea, but declined to specify the size of the leak.

Shell have confirmed a leak in a pipeline serving one of their North Sea platforms. Photograph: Ben Stansall/AFP/Getty Images

Royal Dutch Shell has said it is working to contain an oil leak at its Gannet Alpha platform in the North Sea, but declined to specify the size of the leak.

“We can confirm we are managing an oil leak in a flow line that serves the Gannet Alpha platform. We deployed a remote-operated vehicle to check for a subsea leak after a light sheen was noticed in the area,” a Shell spokesman said.

“We have stemmed the leak significantly and we are taking further measures to isolate it. The subsea well has been shut in, and the flow line is being depressurised.” read more

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Shell says it is fighting a leaking flow line in North Sea off Scottish coast

By Associated Press, Updated: Friday, August 12, 8:25 PM

AMSTERDAM — Royal Dutch Shell PLC says it is trying to stop oil leaking from a flow line at one of its drilling platforms in the North Sea off the coast of Scotland.

Spokesman David Williams confirmed the leak was ongoing Friday and he referred further questions to a company statement. Shell said it cannot specify how much oil may have escaped, but it knows which line had the leak and the flow has been stemmed as the underwater well has been shut in and the line at the Gannet Alpha platform is being de-pressurized. read more

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Oil companies warned on North Sea accidents

MESSAGE FROM BILL CAMPBELL, RETIRED GROUP HSE AUDITOR, SHELL INTERNATIONAL

John

You may be interested in this, things are not getting better offshore and the figs for 2009/10 exclude the helicopter incident.

What should concerns offshore workers is that for example the operators or installations who are having the increase in gas releases are not highlighted in the HSE report.  It appears a fundamental weakness that you can find out how your local hospital is performing but not how the installation your friends or family are employed on is performing.  Despite pressure to provide specific data the HSE still produces general data masking from public scrutiny the worst offenders.

http://www.hse.gov.uk/press/2010/hse-offshorestats.htm read more

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TENC-CA UK North Sea sale and transfer by Shell and ExxonMobil completed

Tom Botts, Executive Vice President, Shell Exploration & Production in Europe, said: "Active management of our assets is a key part of Shell's portfolio-based strategy. At Shell, we are committed to focus on where we can best use our people, capital and technologies, for competitive long-term returns. On a global basis Shell remains committed to Europe and the North Sea as a core business area and holds a key strategic position in security of energy supply to the UK."

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AF Decom to decommision 6 off Shell platforms in the North Sea

Negotiations on the final contract are ongoing and execution of the final contract is subject to Project Final Investment Decision by Shell.

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Storm over major leaks on offshore platforms

The North Sea energy industry was under fire last night for failing to cut the number of oil and gas leaks – despite the potential to spark another Piper Alpha-style disaster.

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.