Holdfast Training Services Trial Blog

16 July – 12 August 2012

 Weeks 16 – 19

Juggling nicely

Wow there, things have been busy for Camp Warner in the North, so here’s a bit of a summary starting with the most exciting bit (that turned out not to be that exciting after all).

ETAP ALQ Survey

Well, after a bit of fighting and some determined conversations, I managed to get offshore, albeit without a chaperone.  Luckily, the ability to walk around confidently ensured I could recce effectively, whilst the green hat policy (everyone wears a green hard hat for their first three months on any ‘new’ BP platform) meant that people were always happy to explain things.  My method of interview meant that people were happy to chat away which was good because I needed to balance opinions.  Even more than normally, people were keen to hear the Army perspective, and I think afterwards some of them viewed life on an ‘austere’ oil rig slightly differently.  Facilities are really quite plush: shared-2 man rooms with Sky HD and all the sports channels (but not all the ‘other’ channels); free wi-fi in the quarters area; phones dotted around the place – press 9 for an outside line; cinema; TV rooms; quiet rooms; smoking rooms; gym; sauna; as much food as you can eat…  The lads get good bonuses for working off-shore and huge ones if their flight home is delayed.  As for wages, the HSE Advisor (HSEA – effectively 3ic of the platform) who I shared an office with is on a salary that equated to £120k a year.  Not too bad when you consider the shift pattern of 2-weeks on, 3-weeks off.

Anyway, as I was saying before digressing about my next career, the survey was incredibly useful and the following were appraised:

Location.  From a previous study for the Search and Rescue Helicopter, the findings were verified and no major changes have been made since then to cause problems.  Key factors will be the placing of a laydown area and bunded fuel storage above the accommodation – soundproofing must be considered as well as protective measures associated with the fuel.  Site below in Fig 1.

Figure 1.  Laydown area on ETAP QU Platform

Muster area/boot room.  The muster area must have 0.35m² for each person for mustering so will not be big enough if there are 30 more POB.  As such, various options have been considered for enlarging this, such as breaking through into the Emergency Response Team (ERT) room (that will need to be relocated) or the dirty area smoking/non-smoking room.  My plan would be to relocate the ERT – the dirty area rest rooms are the only respite for some workers (unless they de-gunge) during their shift; reducing them whilst increasing the amount of POB would not be sensible!

HVAC.  Separate system required as the existing system will not cope with the increased demand without major internal changes

Electricity.  Ample power available and distribution capability from existing switchgear

Potable water.  Either capacity for this will need to be increased (difficult) or some desalination and purification required to slow down the rate of vessel supply.  (For E&Ms, consumption is ~350l pppd)

Black water removal.  Big problems with current drainage capacity so my advice is to run the removal on an entirely different system OR incorporate the refurbishment of the old system onto this project.

Lifeboat.  One more required for the increase in numbers, suitable sites found – opne better than the other and should require little platform modification.  It’s like it was meant to go there…

Camp Boss facilities.  Ran by Aramark, messing and laundry facilities will cope with extra demand with 2-3 more staff.  Rec rooms are sufficient although will be busier at peak times (X Factor/ Pop Idol/ major sporting events).

Other facilities.  The old temporary living accommodation (TLA  – the white boxes on the left in Fig 1) currently has some Cape and WG PSN guys using it as offices, but the TLA is in poor order (as befits a temporary structure living outside its expected life cycle) and consideration should be made for removing it.  This would allow for more room for the ALQ but then what happens to the guys using it?  My thoughts are: 1. do we care?  2. Do they have squatters’ rights, as that’s effectively what they are? 3. Do you want more office space building “whilst we’re here”.  I can get these questions thought about in meetings mentioned below, but in line with good Front End Loading (FEL) we must consider this now rather than in a year’s time.

Next steps.  I’m meeting up with my Runcorn based design team on Tuesday to get them to move forward with the appraise study of different options, and following this I will get the key stakeholders (Area Engineering Support Team Leader (AESTL), Offshore Installation Manager (OIM), Business Manager, JRE and HSEA) together to Set Business Priorities – i.e. fully understand the Project Objectives that they see as most relevant; and hopefully gain some consensus on them!  We will then get the Appraise study complete and get the same stakeholders together for a Peer Assist; their buy in is important as it is their platform we are making the modifications to.  Getting the FEL right will save lots of pain later.  I can then produce the DSP and move forward to Select.

Timelines.  To be discussed on Tuesday, but I’m hoping to complete Appraise by the end of September and Select by the end of the year.  This will allow me time to finish Define by the end of June so on-shore Execute can happen July 13 – April 14, and offshore Execute May – June 14.  Easy – and it will play perfectly into whoever’s here next (if anyone).

In other jobs

Also this month I’ve:

• Covered the installation of Ish’s exhaust stack change out; it’s currently 11 days ahead of schedule.
• Got frustrated with the lack of work done on the Magnus TAR mods (Glycol balance line and conde pumps).  These jobs have been bounced between Runcorn and Hull and are back to Runcorn again but with a mostly new team.  My main aim this Tuesday is to bang heads together by charming them into working better as a team – or maybe just working full stop.  The piping engineers are going out to survey next weekend so I need to renew the leadership piece and ensure they’re motivated and aware of what is required.  I fear a lot may have been lost in the movement of the jobs their end.
• Investigated failings related to the Andrew Meter Prover project and found out a lot about FEL, Value Improving Practices (VIPs) and equally importantly, methods of ensuring that only the correct projects are selected to be developed within a portfolio.
• Investigated the bunkering of fuel oil and potable water from a supply vessel, through a flotel, and onto Magnus.  Currently, I’m sorting out a trip to Gdansk to survey the Safe Caledonia flotel (454 bed floting caravan.  This thing is bigger than Magnus, which is the biggest single permanent structure in the North Sea) before it departs for Andrew in November, so a bit of a deadline since any mods are likely to require long lead items.

Figure 2.  Safe Caledonia Flotel

• Worked on the W160 gas-lift tie in; this will be kicked off in September, straight into Define.
• Taken on 5 more jobs on Magnus.  These are all at different stages and are being handed to me by one of the lads on the graduate scheme.  They are:
  • Cold Relief Boot upgrade
  • Compressor vent mods to improve the shaft sealing systems on the export and flash gas compressors.
  • Decommissioning of redundant Flash Gas, Export Gas and Chill Gas Trains 1 & 2
  • Train 1 Export Gas & Flash Gas Compressor Lube Oil & Seal Oil Modifications
  • Train 2 Export Gas & Flash Gas Compressor Lube Oil & Seal Oil Modifications
• I am out surveying my original TAR jobs on Magnus in October, so shall ensure I can have a good survey of the new ones whilst out there.

 In other news:

• Finished 28^th in the epic (4700 ft ascent over 14 miles) Dufftown Highland Games hill race – was fine going up the hills but got smashed on the descents – my new training regime incorporates “negative hill sprints”. 
• Went to Kari Sims’ wedding to Andy McGee down the way in Inverary.  An excellent Scottish wedding: highland dancing, a great selection of single malts and midges.
• Heading to the Deep South this weekend to see the Olympic mountainbiking in Essex
• And last but by no means least; we’re off on Honeymoon at the end of next week.  10 nights of adventure in Borneo followed by 4 nights of that relaxation stuff on Pangkor Laut.  Back in time to see Nick Beighton in the Paralympics.