DRILLBITS -October 2014
This Month’s Articles
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IADC Hosts Workshops on EU Offshore Safety Directive
In October, IADC hosted executive workshops in Athens and Aberdeen to shed light on the European Union offshore safety directive. Formally known as EU Directive 2013/30/EU, it is designed to mitigate and prevent serious environmental and safety accidents.
While licensees and operators are the primary responsible parties under the EU rule, drilling contractors bear significant responsibilities. Given this, Taf Powell, IADC Executive Vice President, Policy, Government and Regulatory Affairs, moderated the workshops to further discuss and analyze the complex framework. Before joining IADC, Mr. Powell served the European Commission as expert advisor in offshore drilling and production. In that capacity, he was instrumental in developing the directive, and therefore has valuable insight to share with IADC members.
Attendees at the workshops were informed on the implications for future offshore regulation in the European Union and given the tools and knowledge necessary to effectively represent the interests of their companies during the coming period of implementation by European regulators.
Key takeaways from the workshops included:
- National regulators are required to form a single integrated body, the ‘competent authority’, for regulating both safety and the environment. IADC members have expressed concern that if individual governments ignore this requirement, uncoordinated systems and requirements would result in fragmentation.
- New standards for harmonized incident reporting across the EU will create a unified approach to gathering data across Europe. Drilling contractor members expect regulators to ensure that new reporting system will not lead to duplication of reporting.
- The requirements for integrated, risk-based, safety and environmental management systems (SEMS) and related emergency plans are important “streamlining” goals for IADC members and those in attendance. The directive should encourage proportionate approaches to mobile drilling units and fixed production units, whose risk profiles are different, requiring different risk control measures and management systems.
- The primary role of the operator/licensee is to see to it that risks of major accidents are suitably controlled. Europe gives top priority to the operators risk assessment for all well locations, and also ascribes full liability to environmental damages to the licensee. Drilling contractors play a major part in supporting operators to deliver the risk control system.
“IADC is currently engaged with the European Commission to ensure our members have a sensible period of time for implementing the new requirements – up to July 2018, provided there is a valid safety case/risk assessment for the rig,” commented Mr Powell. “We are also engaging with them to ensure that forthcoming recommendations by the Commission for financial liability systems for relief of damages from accidents do not result in increased financial liability for drilling contractors.”
Mr Powell’s presentation can be accessed via IADC’s website.
New Drilling Manual Electronic Chapters Available
Stand-alone chapters of the 12th edition of the IADC Drilling Manual have been issued in electronic form.
More than 100 technical experts contributed to the first major rewrite of the manual in 22 years.
Currently, 13 chapters of the updated Drilling Manual are available via the IADC Bookstore, and more will be released throughout 2014 and 2015.
Chapters currently available include:
- Automation
- Bits
- Casing while Drilling
- Cementing
- Chains & Sprockets
- Drill String
- Drilling Fluids
- Drilling Fluids Processing
- Drilling Hydraulics
- Lubrication
- Managed Pressure, Underbalanced and Air/Gas/Mist/Foam Drilling
- Pumps
- Wire Rope
“The updated IADC Drilling Manual is a major deliverable of IADC and represents thousands of hours of work by a dedicated group of renowned industry experts. The new and updated content reflects the latest technologies developed over the last 22 years,” said Mike Killalea, IADC Group Vice President and Publisher.
The eBooks are compatible with most eReaders, including DL Reader (mobile devices), BlueFire, Adobe Digital Editions and more.
Hard copies of the 12th edition of the IADC Drilling Manual are expected to be released in 2015.
To purchase, visit the IADC Bookstore.
North Sea Countries Enter Agreement to Recognize Specialized Safety and Emergency Training
Since 1999, the Norwegian Oil and Gas Association (Norway), NOGEPA (the Netherlands), Oil and Gas UK (the UK) and Olie Gas Danmark (Denmark), have been working together to update OGP report No. 6.59/289. A new letter of intent was recently entered into by the groups.
The agreement accepts that specialized safety and emergency training in one country is recognized in the other North Sea countries. At the same time, strict safety requirements are complied with and maintained in accordance with an agreed-upon matrix.
Each association accepts training schools and courses approved by the other participants. Thus, the agreement primarily affects personnel working across borders in northwest Europe.
The ultimate objective for the associations is to develop a common standard to prepare the workforce to achieve a high level of competence in specialized safety and emergency preparedness across northwest Europe. The safety-training certificate must be valid in the country of issue and also within the time period of the accepting country. Each national association is responsible for informing member companies, heliports, major contracting and supply industry and training schools, within their own country of this agreement.
For more information, please contact Jens Hoffmark at Jens.Hoffmark@iadc.org.
IADC Hosts Pathway to a Competent Workforce Workshops
The IADC South Central Asia Chapter hosted “Pathway to a Competent Workforce” workshops in New Delhi and Mumbai in September.
More than 100 people attended each of the events, where the keynote address focused on ONGC’s perspective on the importance of a competent workforce. Mike DuBose, IADC Vice President, International Development; Brenda Kelly, Senior Director, Program Development; Brooke Polk, IADC Competence and Learning Specialist and Chit Hlaing, IADC Assistant Regional Director, Asia Pacific, each discussed various IADC initiatives and programs. The second workshop, hosted on 12 September, included a session in which attendees brainstormed on India’s needs for workforce attraction and development.
“The India competence workshops were highly successful, bringing together drilling contractors, ONGC personnel and IADC staff to discuss local workforce needs. It was a great experience and opportunity to meet so many of our members. We were able to identify several areas in which IADC staff can assist local members with their workforce development needs,” said Brenda Kelly, IADC Senior Director, Program Development.
Visit the IADC South Central Asia Chapter website for more information about the Chapter and upcoming events.
US Coast Guard Issues Announcement on Fraudulent Mariner Applications
The United States Coast Guard recently issued an announcement regarding fraudulent applications from mariners who did not properly disclose their previous convictions on applications. This includes those where the mariner plead “guilty” or “no contest” and was given deferred adjudication, probation, supervision, or had to attend court-appointed classes or have to give time or money, than under those situations the Coast Guard considers the applicant to have received a conviction.
An updated version of the CG-719B application is currently under review.
The complete bulletin, which provides more detailed information regarding this issue, is available on the National Maritime Center’s website.
Workforce Attraction and Development Initiative (WADI) Reaches Key Milestones
The IADC Workforce Attraction and Development Initiative (WADI), recently reached key milestones in its development.
WADI addresses the industry’s need for pre-screened, pre-trained and pre-qualified entry-level, new-hire candidates. It connects the oil and gas industry with community colleges that have a track record of successfully developing coursework and programs to prepare would-be personnel for their industry of choice.
To date, IADC, industry and more than 40 colleges from across the globe, have collaborated to produce standardized course components. These include:
- Pre-screen requirements for acceptance into the program
- Candidate Interview Guide
- Criminal Background Review Criteria and Scoring Guide
- Workkeys Assessment Criteria and Scoring Requirement
- Fitness Requirements
- Drug Screen Requirements
Work continues on the project, with a number of next steps to be addressed and completed throughout the next several months. These include:
- IADC will provide program requirement package to participating colleges.
- Colleges will develop courses based on the standardized requirements.
- IADC will create an accreditation program for college courses.
- To assess and verify candidate knowledge, IADC will build a testing database based on the IADC Knowledge, Skill and Ability (KSA) competencies.
Please visit the WADI webpage for more information about the program.
OGP Geomatics Committee releases SeabedML Application Schema
The OGP Geomatics Committee’s Seabed Survey Data Model Task Force recently published SeabedML, the Open Geospatial Consortium Geography Markup Language Application Schema for SSDM version 1.
It enables open data exchange of geographical features and is particularly useful on web-enabled platforms. SeabedML is a geography markup language implementation of the SSDM, a data model for the delivery of seabed survey data developed and released in April 2011.
The availability of SeabedML is an important step toward data standards in the marine survey industry. It gives any SSDM user the choice of using an open standard for digital data exchange, in addition to the existing template that is already in extensive use throughout the industry.
The SeabedML schema files can be downloaded from the OGP Geomatics website.
Killalea represents IADC at October events
Mike Killalea, IADC Group Vice President/Publisher, represented IADC at two October events.
On 23 October, he spoke on advances in enabling drilling technology at the 2014 Global Logistics Council, a meeting of supply chain professionals sponsored by the global logistics firm Expeditors.
“This was a great opportunity to reach out to a non-technical audience, and give them some takeaways on how we drill wells and what IADC is all about,” Mr Killalea remarked.
Mr Killalea was also invited by Weatherford to moderate a panel discussion on well integrity. Weatherford hosted the discussion at their booth at the SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition in Amsterdam. Panelists included Don Hannegan, Business Development Manager-MPD, and Pat York, General Manager-Well Engineering and Project Management, both of Weatherford, and Tim Travis, Senior Technical Professional Advisor, ExxonMobil.
The Weatherford panel discussed well-integrity challenges operators face, barriers and limiters, and future efforts.
“Well integrity is an important aspect of asset integrity and risk management for our industry, Mr Killalea said. “The panel approached the well-integrity question from the perspective of the well’s life cycle, rather than limiting the discussion to well construction only. Interestingly, the solutions cited involve not only technical advances, but, at least as importantly, human competency.”
Accreditation Updates
RigPASS
WellCAP
Safety Alerts
For the latest safety alerts, visit www.iadc.org/safety-alerts
Alert 14-27: Dropped Object: Hammer is kicked from work basket
Alert 14-28: Fall from equipment onto a trailer results in laceration
Rigs Receive ISP Certificates
For certificates received since last LTI (in years):
New IADC Members
IADC welcomes 24 new members:
DRILLBITS Volume 24, Number 10
Jay Minmier, Chairman • Stephen Colville, President and CEO • Amy Rose, Editor
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+1/713-292-1945. Fax +1/713-292-1946.
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