Offshore staff
NORTHUMBERLAND, UK --Easy, safe access to 'normally unattended installations' (NUI) on offshore oil and gas fields has been addressed by The Engineering Business (EB) for Tullow Oil. Tullow is using the EB designed and built WaterBridge access system on the Horne and Wren platform in the Southern North Sea.
WaterBridge provides a temporary bridge between a vessel and the Horne and Wren platform for easier, safer transfers in more hostile weather conditions, the company says.
Originally designed to provide access to offshore wind turbines, the inflatable bridge concept has been developed into a family of solutions for the transfer of personnel, supplies and equipment. WaterBridge increases the amount of hand portable equipment each person can transfer and it also allows a practical and safe means of evacuating injured personnel.
"We first made use of EB's WaterBridge in September 2006," says Rob Martin of Tullow Oil. "It has enabled us to carry out vital intervention work on the Horne and Wren platform."
"By using WaterBridge we were able to access the platform in 2.5 m (8.2 ft) waves; and to know that we were working well within safety limits. We are now hoping to extend our use of WaterBridge to other platforms."
5/16/2007
