Husky bringing White Rose drill centers back online

Aug. 19, 2019

Offshore staff

CALGARY, CanadaHusky Energy plans to resume production from the remaining two drill centers serving the White Rose area offshore Newfoundland following an oil spill last November.

It follows a comprehensive investigation, flowline repairs, integrity testing and approval from the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board (C-NLOPB), the company said.

Husky anticipates a smooth re-start building to full production rates during this week.

The re-start of the North Amethyst and South White Rose Extension drill centers follows the resumption of operations from three other White Rose drill centers during the first half of 2019.

Husky CEO Rob Peabody said: “As a result of our investigation, we’ve enhanced our start-up procedures, strengthened equipment and added more barriers to prevent failures. The lessons learned have also been shared broadly through the industry to try to prevent similar incidents in the future.”

The company’s investigations concluded that the source of the spill was a failed flowline connector near the South White Rose Extension drill center, which parted during start-up operations.

It commissioned a replacement flowline connector with a higher load capacity, which was installed at the South White Rose Extension drill center last month.

Flowline connectors are designed to release under specified tension in the event of iceberg activity, the company said, adding that other production flowlines with similar connectors have also been enhanced to withstand a higher load capacity.

Husky has implemented various process safety initiatives and has added additional oversight around critical activities and the process of restarting production. It has submitted its investigation report to the C-NLOPB.

08/19/2019

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