Holdfast Training Services Trial Blog

This is the post that was going to be written on Friday, basically a round up of my portfolio, since I haven’t done that in a while…

Clair Coolers

Leak testing completed last Wednesday which means that commissioning is pretty much there and with start up scheduled for Thursday, all fingers are crossed that the new coolers and pipework do what they are supposed to. It has been a manic month and a half getting this project finished, but worth it. We are just over £1m over budget and about 5 days late, but the TAR is off by 2 weeks and none of that is our fault, so we are looking good. The budget bust was probably a given based on the emergent nature of the work, but I have secured the necessary expansion to the financial note and at the end of the day the partners did not really have a choice.

The next 90 days will be spent completing the technical and financial close out and I am intent that this is completed on time. We shall see.

Clair Minox B Blower

This is my next biggy with off shore execute scheduled for Feb 2014. This is a scope that has been engineered and is awaiting the slot to execute. It probably deserves a post in its own right to explain the ins and outs (of which there are several), but it is offering me a couple of interesting opportunities. Not in the least the issue of a safety critical interlock arrangement on the modification which has been identified as not being necessary. I think that it has potential to satisfy my B competencies as I am planning on writing a draft technical note to cover the issue and support a decision to proceed without it being implemented. Time is tight, so this is high on my to do list.

There is a fair amount of schedule and planning work to be done on the project as a whole to make sure it goes off without a hitch. This Thursday I will be flying down to Stroud to visit the firm who are reconditioning the blower of my post from last week.

Clair HP Cooler

I’ve still got to find the time to write the SOR for this project. It is halfway there and I am getting increasing pressure to get it over the line to support the design estimate that is just beginning. Yes, I know, how can the estimate go ahead when the SOR is not written. Well, this is the fourth leg of the Clair coolers saga that was dropped from the 2013 TAR due to increasing complexity threatening the execution schedule of the other three coolers. It has been estimated before so this is really just a revision to include the cost that were not picked up in the original estimate, the SOR is more of an update that a brand new document. This is due for 2015 execution and therefore almost certainly going to fall one of the two new secondees. 

Bruce P60 Bridge

Yes, this is still going on. I now have all of the deliverables for this project in Define and will be writing a project sanction DSP over the next 2 weeks. This one has snuck under the radar a little bit and I need to create a document that presents the engineering challenge vs the financial benefit to the asset so that they can decide to go or no go. With the Rhum field now definitely coming back on line there is potential for a change in atmosphere on this issue what with the extension of life of field by a fair few years. This is my personal mission to get some kind of resolution on the project.

Bruce Caissons

C13 is chuntering along in the background and I won’t really be doing any work on it until the new year. Suffice it to say that bringing Rhum back on line may have a significant effect on this project. When Rhum starts up the asset will have no redundancy in sea water lift unless this caisson comes back on line. We shall see if it changes any, my guess is not in the next 12 months but it is likely to be a priority for 2015 installation.

Clair Flowline Support Mods

Not much to say here. I’ve bumped the execute into May 15 because there is no appetite from the asset to give me information while the TAR is ongoing. I will keep plugging away at it, but I am not overly optimistic.

In other news:

Hugo has started walking so, being Swiss, he should be skiing by Christmas. I have started home brewing, my first batch is homebrew version of St Austells Tribute. It is merrily bubbling away in the spare room and hopefully in a few weeks should be a decent pint. The home made heat exchanger (single pass immersion coil) and aerator (car pump + aeration stone) worked very well. I will post some pics at some point. There is a striking correlation, Hugo finds his legs just a few week before his dad loses his!