Inspectors on board Shell’s Gannet Alpha platform to investigate gas leak

The Health & Safety Executive (HSE) confirmed on Friday that inspectors flew out to the installation, 180 kilometres east of Aberdeen, on Thursday. Gannet Alpha remains shut-in, Shell said. A total of 76 workers were on board at the time of the incident…

Upstream Online, 10th February 2012

Gannet Alpha oil rig evacuated after gas leak detected underneath platform

None essential personnel were evacuated from a North Sea offshore oil platform when a gas leak was detected. Of the 76 staff on the Gannet Alpha platform in the North Sea, 48 were returned to shore by helicopter while the leak was investigated.

Production was stopped at the station on Monday when the leaking gas was detected underneath the rig. Shell said staffing will remain reduced until the investigation is complete…

The Press Association, 9th February 2012

Entire Airbus A380 fleet to be checked for defects

European air safety officials extended checks for Airbus A380 wing cracks to the entire superjumbo fleet on Wednesday and said the widespread defects could pose a safety risk if left unremedied. The new measures by the European Air Safety Agency EASA are the results of a first round of checks, which found cracks in almost all of the planes inspected…

Reuters, 8th February 2012

BAE looks abroad to save UK shipyards

BAE Systems, Europe’s largest defence contractor, is in talks with Brazil and Turkey, to secure orders for the company’s most advanced warship in the hopes it could save its UK shipyards from closure.

The company is reviewing its business in light of cuts in UK defence spending, including considering whether to close one of its three shipyards in Glasgow and Portsmouth…

Financial Times, 16th January 2012

MarineCo launches second wind farms support vessel

BOAT operator MarineCo has launched the second catamarans to take engineers and equipment out to wind farms through choppy seas. MarineCo is also involved in dredging and offshore engineering projects.

Launched in 1996, the company employs 53 – six at its head office near Edinburgh and 47 on its vessels, which are located around the Middle East, northern Europe and the UK…

The Scotsman, 25 December 2011

HSE orders revison of Buchan Alpha’s safety case due to concerns about it’s inspection regime

HSE issued the rare request for Talisman to revise the Buchan safety case because it felt its inspection regime might not identify potential cracks in Buchan’s legs and their supporting braces early enough to prevent them from deteriorating to a point where it was at risk of suffering a “primary structural failure”. Talisman Energy will enter the New Year facing the possible shutdown of its Buchan Alpha facility…

UpStreamOnline, 23 December 2011

Wood Group wins £5m Aussie deal

Wood Group Kenny has confirmed it has been awarded a contract to carry out the front end engineering and design for the subsea development of the Equus field, off Western Australia. The work scope of the A$8 million (US$8.1 million) contract involves flow assurance, subsea engineering, flowlines, export pipeline and tie-ins design, material selection and integrity management…

UpStreamOnline, 21 December 2011

More than 50 feared dead in Russian oil rig disaster

More than 50 people are feared dead after a mobile oil-drilling platform capsized and sunk during stormy weather in the Sea of Okhotsk off Russia’s east coast. The Kolskaya platform with a crew of 67 on board was being towed by an icebreaker and a tugboat to Sakhalin island at the time  when it was caught in a bad storm…

The Telegraph, Sunday 18th December 2011.

Oil tanker forced to sail to Belfast with cracked hull

The Genmar Companion, a 228m-long tanker, which was carrying a 54,000-tonne cargo en route from Rotterdam to New York, was halted 25 miles off Tory Island before beginning its journey to Belfast where inspection and repair work was due to take place. The captain contacted the Irish Coastguard to report a suspected crack in the hull…

Multi-Million Clyde Shipyard Contract to Create Around 100 New Jobs

The world’s first low-carbon battery-powered passenger ferries are being built on the banks of the Clyde, the first commercial vessels constructed at the Scottish shipbuilding site for four years.

Transport Scotland website, 3 November 2011