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Woodside cleanup off WA plagued by injuries and incidents
There are serious concerns about lifting equipment and procedures on McDermott's offshore construction vessel DLV 2000 which is decommissioning the Stybarrow oil field near Ningaloo Reef.
A Woodside effort to clear the seabed of remnants of an old oil field near Ningaloo Reef was halted in early March after one of three serious safety breaches in two months.
A worker was crushed by a generator that was not properly secured to the deck of the DLV 2000 construction vessel, according to the offshore safety regulator NOPSEMA.
Boiling Cold understands the worker suffered broken ribs and potentially a punctured lung. He received immediate treatment, then was evacuated to hospital by helicopter and is still recovering.
The regulator said the vessel operator, US firm McDermott, "had failed to take all reasonably practicable steps" to safely secure the heavy equipment to the deck.
According to a NOPSEMA improvement notice issued to McDermott, it failed to follow industry-standard fastening procedures and did not provide the regulator with the documents it asked for, including procedures and engineering calculations.
The March 20 notice requires McDermott to improve its training for and oversight of securing cargo on the vessel within 30 days.
A NOPSEMA spokeswoman said it sent inspectors to the vessel immediately after the incident and McDermott ceased all operations on the DLV 2000 until its procedures could be reviewed.
Woodside is decommissioning the Stybarrow oil field 50km from Exmouth, which BHP operated until 2015. Woodside became responsible for the cleanup after it bought BHP's petroleum division in 2022.
The work includes plugging ten wells so they never leak, removing subsea equipment, and raising from the 810m-deep seabed a turret mooring that sank soon after BHP closed Stybarrow.
The NOPSEMA spokeswoman said it had been notified about two other incidents on the DLV 2000: failed lifting equipment and a damaged subsea remotely operated vehicle (ROV).
"It would not be appropriate for NOPSEMA to comment further on those investigations," she said.
There have been ongoing problems with operating cranes on the DLV 2000, according to an industry source not authorised to speak to the media.
Boiling Cold understands on March 21, an ROV and its launch and recovery system, together weighing more than ten tonnes, fell to the deck during recovery, causing serious structural damage to the expensive vehicle.
Boiling Cold also understands the lifting equipment incident occurred on the night of February 17 when a polyester sling rated to withstand a load of 150 tonnes failed and a worker was injured.
In the coming decades, Australia's offshore oil and gas producers are predicted to spend more than $50 billion plugging wells and clearing the ocean of their equipment.
In some ways, decommissioning is potentially more dangerous than construction as the physical condition of the structures being moved can be very poor. Additionally, companies may be less willing to spend money on activities that do not create revenue.
The NOPSEMA spokeswoman said it had increased its focus on reviewing the details of decommissioning plans.
"NOPSEMA encourages titleholders to plan for decommissioning throughout the life cycle of a project, with the expectation that the level of detailed planning increases as projects get closer to the end of operations," she said.
Woodside, McDermott and the union Offshore Alliance have been contacted for comment.
I worked in oil & gas in commercial and engineering roles for 20 years. Since 2016 I have written for The West Australian, The Saturday Paper, RenewEconomy, Michael West, Boiling Cold and WAtoday.
Peter Milne
