Total's UK subsidiary (Total E&P UK Ltd) has been fined a record £1.125 million (US$1.67 million) after it admitted failures that led to largest release of gas on record from the Elgin offshore platform in 2012. The fine was passed down by the Sheriff Court in Aberdeen, Scotland.
The gas leak first occurred at 12:25 GMT on 25 March 2012 when rig workers were attempting a well kill, according to the UK’s Health and Safety Executive (HSE). During the operation a sudden and uncontrollable release of gas and condensate then led to the evacuation of all 238 personnel and the subsequent production shutdown at Elgin, Franklin, and West Franklin gas fields. The Elgin/Franklin development is a high pressure, high temperature project in the central Craben Area of the North Sea, approximately 240 km east of Aberdeen.
At the time of the incident, Total’s installation wasn’t the only one affected. In response, Shell evacuated 120 non-essential workers from nearby Shearwater field and associated drilling rig Hans Duel, the BBC reported at the time. Neighboring platforms were shut down and a 2mi shipping and aircraft exclusion zone was imposed around the Elgin. It took 51 days for the well to be brought under control, allowing more than 6000 tonnes and gas condensate to be released, equivalent to more than 300 road tankers, HSE said.
The leak eventually came to an end in May 2012, following an intervention operation undertaken by Total and Wild Well Control. The top kill operation involved crews working from the West Phoenix semisubmersible drilling rig pumping heavy drilling mud into the well through a temporary pipeline. Total said at the time that the leak was plugged 12 hours later. In May 2012, it was reported that the leak cost Total about $2.5 million a day. Production eventually resumed at the Elgin-Franklin complex on 9 March 2013.
Total E&P Ltd pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 13(1)(a) and (b) of the Offshore Installations and Wells (Design and Construction, etc) Regulations 1996 and Section 33(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, at Aberdeen Sheriff Court.
HSE said that the Sheriff court was told that Total had been experiencing problems of high pressure gas leaking into the affected well for some time. On 25th February 2012, the well suffered a series of casing failures, which Total correctly responded to by beginning a well kill operation on the 15th March. However, Total failed to identify and implement sufficient control measures and control of the well was progressively lost until, on the 25th March 2012, the well failed.
“This incident was foreseeable and entirely preventable,” said HSE Operations Manager Russell Breen. “There were a number of failures on the part of Total, which contributed to the blowout.
“They failed to properly calculate the weight of kill fluid required; departed from the proposed well kill plan without considering relevant contingency arrangements and relied on an untested assumption that a sudden uncontrolled release at the wellhead could not occur,” he said. “All of these contributed to them losing control of the well and the sudden uncontrolled release of gas.
“Industry must learn from this, it is an important reminder of the ever-present hazards with oil and gas production and the need for them to be rigorously managed. This could have easily led to loss of life.”
HSE said that Total has cooperated fully with its investigation of the accident, undertaken their own investigations, reviewed their procedures and shared the lessons learned with the wider industry in order to reduce the likelihood of others repeating the errors.
Image: Elgin-Franklin/Total
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