A worker on a UK North Sea drilling rig has suffered “serious” injuries after a release of highly pressurised gas on board.
It happened on the morning of June 11 on Island Drilling’s Island Innovator semi-submersible, just days after the vessel had started work for operator Dana Petroleum.
According to watchdog the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), there was an “unintended discharge” of compressed air at around 300 bars or 4,350 pounds per square inch (PSI). The average car tyre pressure is between 30 and 35PSI.
The incident caused a “rupture or disintegration” of parts of the kit on Island Innovator, and resulted in a crew member sustaining serious injuries.
HSE subsequently launched an investigation and found Island Drilling had “failed to take measures to prevent the exposure of risk” to workers using the equipment.
As a result, the Norwegian drilling contractor has been hit with an improvement notice and has until August 18 to comply.
Island Drilling, headquartered near Bergen, was approached for comment.
Four-well workover campaign
Island Innovator, the company’s sole rig, left Norway at the start of June.
It arrived on location on Dana’s Guillemot field on June 8, three days before the accident.
Located about 120 miles east of Aberdeen, Guillemot is one of a number of fields tied into the Triton floating production storage and offloading vessel. The others are Bittern, Clapham, Pict and Saxon.
A four-well work programme in the area was expected to last about 110 days.
Once the £23.2 million deal with Dana is complete, the vessel will head back to Africa to work for Trident Energy in Equatorial Guinea.
Manufactured in China and completed in 2012, Island Innovator is a 4,000ft, sixth generation drilling rig. It arrived in Semco Maritime’s Hanoytangen yard in April, having made the trip from Mauritania, where it was carrying out work for Tullow Oil.
