WHEN AN INCIDENT CHANGES YOUR LIFE 28 November 2004 marked a change in my professional life. The gas blowout on Snorre A had the potential to take 216 lives and create an environmental disaster, as well as material loss. It is known as one of the most serious incidents on the Norwegian continental shelf. I joined Statoil/Snorre onshore just a few days prior to the incident, hired as a management consultant from Accenture to contribute with Integrated Operations. The incident occurred on a Sunday evening. And Monday afternoon, I was brought into the Emergency preparedness team because ‘Aren’t you an engineer? We need someone who understands what we are talking about to take minutes of meeting and keep track of the actions’. I was 28 years old, newly divorced, and alone with my 1-year-old son. I remember calling my parents, asking them to take care of him - ‘I don’t know when I’ll come home - whether it’s today or next week’. They told me to focus on my job, resting assured that my little one was in safe hands with his grandparents. In safe hands… Just a few hours earlier, the 216 people onboard Snorre A watched the ocean under the platform boil with gas, like a boiling hot tub. There was fire on the flare. Small changes to the wind direction could have given a catastrophic outcome. Now, the situation onboard Snorre A was calmer. The imminent threat was over. The gas blowout was stopped. Most people were evacuated. But there was still a risk that the platform could tilt over, as we didn’t know what the gas blowout had done to the effect of the suction anchors. Images from the Alexander Kielland accident flickered at the back of my mind, while I thought of my new colleagues - that I had never met - and how they were doing right now. There are many stories to be told about the Snorre A incident. Mine is just one. And I was safe onshore through the dramatic events. Still, it changed my professional life: I wanted to be a part of the industry. I wanted to work for Statoil. I wanted to become an Offshore Installation Manager. But most importantly, SAFETY FIRST became a part of me and my decision making. Always. Another story about the incident, is the story from Leif Sandberg. Leif was the Safety Supervisor onboard, and part of the management team who made all the tough decisions under uncertain conditions, with their lives at stake. By coincidence, Leif and I both joined AkerBP this spring. And yesterday, I sent him a message, saying I was thinking of him on this day. Even though he didn’t remember me, he invited me to lunch because, as he said ‘this day is special for us who worked on Snorre this day 20 years ago’. It was good to share some reflections. But one of Leif’s statements will not leave my mind: ‘We still - 20 years later - haven’t taken out all the learning from the Snorre A incident.’ We need to learn more.
I also remember this day, working for BJ Services on a service contract for Statoil. But I never really felt the drama so intense, even though my specializion was well control and blowout prevention. Strange. Maybe I was too occupied with something else. It went well, and 🤞🏻 Norwegian continental shelf operations will continue this way. For the sake of both people and nature 🫶🏻
Technology is now available to address the causes of most blowouts. Automated Well Control was developed to support the drillers and optimise performance. Contact your OEM or Safe Influx to have Automated Well Control installed on your rig.
Thank you for sharing this story and the important message about learning from failure. 🙏
Ensuring people have the energy they need! ⭐️ D&W Capability Lead in AkerBP | MSc Industrial Economics
3wThank you for sharing! I have spent some years planning wells for Snorre A and offshore as drilling supervisor there from 2019-2021 and the stories of p-31 is still very much alive on the rig - it is in the people and in the walls.