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News, View and Letters of Diamond Offshore

 

 

Ocean Epoch

Safe Well-Test Completion

 

I would like to congratulate you all for the safe completion of the well-test in Prelude-1A. This being a high level activity in a new operation for Shell, we have paid extra attention and scrutiny to the planning and execution of this well-test, and I am very impressed with the focus on safety, the professionalism and team work displayed. This test has seen excellent team work between staff in Australia/New Zealand/Malaysia and between our main service providers for this test operation.

 

I thank the Schlumberger and Diamond Offshore organizations for the safe execution of the well-test and would like to mention Ken Glover, who has done an excellent job in leading and coordinating the test and Hatem Kandeel who has provided excellent regional support.

 

Thank you and regards,

 

Martin Vos
Head of Well Delivery—Region Shell Asia Pacific

 

 

Ocean Vanguard

Willie Dow’s Jungle Run

 

“Four days worth of jungle running are beginning to take a heavy toll on the competitors. Several are out due to the effects of the heat and humidity. Foot problems plague most of those left. The first of the toe-nails are coming off, along with large chunks of mashed skin. The jungle is doing everything possible to include the runners in the local food chain. If not mosquitos chewing your ears, its ants at your toes. Most are struggling to obtain the daily calorie requirement, with ingenious combinations of food stuffs. One Brazilian competitor even managed to get to checkpoint 3 (day 3) with an unbroken raw egg rattling around his ‘bumbag’ —incredible, bordering on the miraculous! Tomorrow, the big stage and an overnighter in the jungle for many.”

 

Ocean Vanguard storeman Willie Dow’s son, Willie, is a competitor, a patriot and a humanitarian. Willie Sr. says that his son entered the The Jungle Marathon (International marathon through the Amazon jungle in Brazil) in aid of The Beanfeast Charity for Children, which is designed to make a meaningful difference in the lives of children in Scotland and around the world. The 200 km marathon took place over six stages, with runners battling 200-meter river swims, swamps, heat, humidity and the “beasts” of the jungle. Approximately 60 runners took part, but many retired due to the effects of scorpion stings, ant bites and trench foot. Rest, if you could get any at the end of each stage, was a hammock strung between two trees. Stage 5 was an
87 km romp through the night. Willie reported that most of the jungle creatures must have worked the night shift and that he dreads to think what he was running on and how many flying “beasties” he swallowed.

 

For this torture The Ocean Vanguard crew gave him £500 and the Aberdeen office staff pledged approx £150 for the charity plus various other companies have given their support.

 

Willie did not cross the finish line in first place, but he certainly was not last. After a week back at his base in Benson, Oxfordshire with his wife and son, Willie deployed to Iraq with the 33 Squadron for another two month tour of duty. Rumour is that Willie is going to try the Canadian Death Run next year. Nutty lad, comments his dad.

 

 

Ocean Guardian

Excellent HPHT Performance

 

I (would like to) document our thanks to your HPHT drilling team for an excellent operational performance on Quasimodo in the North Sea. To safely complete a difficult exploration well in two thirds of the planned time is a fine achievement despite the coincident geological disappointment.

 

I look forward to reading the post-well performance analysis of what learning springs from this successful execution.

Regards,

Michael Smith
Europe Exploration Project Manager
ExxonMobil International Limited

 

 

Ocean Guardian, Ocean Princess, Ocean Nomad

Five Star Safety Awards

 

Diamond Offshore Drilling (UK) Ltd.’s office in Dyce, England, together with three Diamond Offshore rigs operating in the U.K. sector of the North Sea, have received the internationally recognized Five Star Health and Safety Audit award from the British Safety Council.

 

Following a comprehensive safety evaluation, organizations are given star ratings—from one to five—to indicate the effectiveness of their safety programmes. Action plans are then provided to the participants that are designed to help companies reduce their insurance premiums and increase repeat business from customers by identifying health and safety strengths and weaknesses.

 

David Ballard, Chief Executive of the British Safety Council, says: “A positive company image through first-class health and safety is vital. It not only makes excellent business sense to have the safest workplace possible, but it also boosts the morale of employees. “I hope other companies will take the lead from Diamond Offshore Drilling (UK) Ltd and forge the way towards a safer future with a Five Star award.”

 

 

Diamond Offshore

Safety Excellence in Lake Jackson District

 

Diamond Offshore has been awarded the 2006 Lake Jackson MMS District SAFE award for Safety Excellence. The SAFE Program recognizes exemplary performance by Outer Continental Shelf oil and gas operators and contractors. Diamond Offshore rigs involved in earning the recognition include:

The MMS presents the award to companies displaying the most exemplary performance throughout the entire district. As a district award winner, Diamond Offshore also becomes eligible to win a National SAFE Award, which is presented in April of each year.

 

 

 

Ocean Vanguard

Safe, Efficient, Great Teamwork – Job Well Done

Just wanted to send a final note of thanks to the team in DODI who made this summers’ work both a success and enjoyable. Feel free to circulate to your guys back in Aberdeen and Houston.

 

The work done was significant for Shell in both business terms and local office terms. Draugen (oil field) in the North Sea is the only operated asset we have, and this year we did some major servicing of the older wells. I have attached some of the internal text (see below) that was sent throughout the Shell world so you can see what was said. I really enjoyed the work and consider the team work to be the highlight of the summer’s operations. The DODI team onshore and offshore played their part very well in this respect and what I would call character was shown when we had our problems with all parties pitching in to make the job both safe and successful. The fact that the Vanguard has now proven itself as a completions rig is I hope going to bring you more work. I am happy to be used as a reference if ever needed in this respect.

 

Many thanks,

 

Callum Smyth
Shell

 

A Summary of the Work Done:
E1: Diamond Offshore bought the Ocean Vanguard in 2003 from Smedvig. Before the rig came to Shell in the summer of 2006, the Diamond Offshore crew had never performed any completion operations with the unit. Therefore, a great credit is due to all the companies involved (Diamond Offshore, FMC, Kværner, Vestbase, Halliburton, Schlumberger, Seadrill, Oceaneering, Expro, Odfjell, Fugro, Smith Red Baron and Shell) that the rig managed to go straight into a subsea flowbase replacement operation. The operation was done safely and within budget with some very challenging rig limitations. Custom built skids were made for the movement of the xmas tree and flowbase on the rig and the operational success of the job is primarily due to the excellent teamwork that was a key theme for the whole project.


SWIT: After E1, the rig moved to SWIT and conducted a two-well workover operation, pulling the xmas trees and tubing and replacing with new pipe and re-furbished trees. Again, the excellent team work resulted in a very impressive performance and the operation that was planned for 73 days was delivered in 60 days. One very notable success was the fact that one of the trees pulled was turned around, with FMC working night and day for four weeks, and re-run as part of the project. This was not in the original work scope at the time of project sanction, and hence a second intervention with another vessel/rig has been avoided. Once again this is due to the efforts of very dedicated people, over 310 people in all, who contributed to the project and it is the efforts of these people who have made the project a success. When I think about this project, what comes to mind first is team work. The offshore crews have worked together and this is illustrated by both the result (three wells back in service), plus the quality and quantity of the daily safety focus (STOP, TOFS, JSA’s etc). When we have had our challenges we have worked together to solve the issues and always made forward progress because people have come up with solutions.

 

The result today is that E1 is online and producing some 500-750 m3/d oil, ready for gas lift. The SWIT wells are both up and running with a total of 21,000 m3/d combined injection (max rate from pump) with a reduced back pressure (some 20 bar lower due to the larger tubing) and full integrity on the annulus and tubing.

 

The rig has moved to A55 and is now anchoring up over this well. This in itself merits thanks as this addition to the project has, like all other challenges, been taken in our stride with people doing what was needed to get the job done. We have around a weeks’ work to do and then the rig will move to Total. While this will mark the end of the 2006 Draugen rig campaign, I look forward to working together with many of you on the forthcoming 2007 Draugen campaign.

 

A55: Well A55 had been closed in since December 2005 due to the tree becoming un-locked from the wellhead. In September 2006, the primary well barrier was noted to be leaking and progressively worsening. With a serious threat to the secondary well barrier (the xmas tree) this status was considered serious enough to prioritize a well intervention using one of the rigs available to Norske Shell. The obvious choice was the Ocean Vanguard, working within the Draugen field already. The Vanguard project team was requested to prepare for an intervention and given the time frame (three weeks) the team planned and then executed an outstanding operation that solved the integrity issue with the well allowing production to recommence.

 

Overall: When the rig moves off location, the unit will have been with Norske Shell for 98 days. The results speak for themselves, with four wells retuned to service contributing around 3,000 m3 oil equivalent, which is 20% of the Draugen total daily production. Throughout the campaign, safety has been given the highest priority by both Shell and all the contributing service companies with the Diamond Offshore safety systems being used at all times. There have been incidents on the rig, but the response to these incidents has been very professional. Nearly 6,000 safety points were recorded over the campaign (this includes permits, STOP cards, Job Safely Analysis, safely inductions and time outs for safety). Thanks to everyone for making such a good project.

 

 

Ocean General

Performance Recognition

 

We would like to acknowledge and recognize the excellent recent performance of the “Team Ocean General” on our drilling program in 2006 (Block 12 drilling and testing), with particular emphasis on the following items:


In recognition of these achievements, Premier Oil Vietnam Offshore BV is pleased to be able to contribute to the installation of a tracking system for the rig’s satellite
TV entertainment system.

 

We at Premier Oil Vietnam Offshore BV are looking forward to working with Diamond Offshore on another occasion in the near future.

 

With Best Regards,

Charles Dunne
Drilling Manager