Ten days working for the firm, and the guy is dropped from a chopper onto a floating production centre in the North Sea to certify a critical bit of kit
Sira Test and Certification's Hazardous Area Centre was recently called upon to send out a certification engineer to an FPSO (floating production, storage and off-loading) vessel working in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea to carry out certification tests on a static frequency controller (speed controller).
Stadt Automasjon in Norway appointed Sira to carry out the certification on a newly designed and manufactured static frequency controller for use with a Sira certified GE transportation motor.
Because the destination application for the product was an FPSO, the Petrojarl I, the combination of motor and speed controller required Atex certification.
The Petrojarl I is a purpose-built turret moored production vessel built in Japan in 1986.
The FPSO was undergoing an extensive refit in the Kvaerner shipyard in Stavanger, following which it was due to commence its tenth consecutive contract in the North Sea.
The refit alone cost over £30million and involved nearly 900 shipworkers.
Dave Hanks, who had only joined Sira's Hazardous Area Centre ten days before the commission, was firstly flown out to Germany to carry out the certification tests on the machine before the machine was delivered to the shipyard for installation on the FPSO.
Due to operational difficulties and electrical supply problems, Sira was unable to give the static frequency controller the required certification in Germany.
This meant that a second visit would be needed to complete certification.
Clearly, the owners of the FPSO (Petroleum Geo-Services) did not want to hold up production in the Glitne field in the North Sea for one Atex certificate.
PGS was keen to get the ship out and into production as the vessel is capable of producing up to 40,000 barrels per day.
However, the newly installed machine required certification before the FPSO could be put into production.
To facilitate certification, Dave was flown to Stavanger and then transported via helicopter to the Petrojarl I.
Dave was able to certify the machinery after successfully completing the required tests which, in normal circumstances, would have required the dismantling of the motor two or three times.
Dave was able to reduce this after careful examination of the test results, thus significantly reducing down time and adding to the profitability of the production contract.
