North Sea Oil Infrastructure Not Fit For Purpose

A small hairline crack in a pipe is costing the industry £20 million per day.

. . . Ineos discovered a small hairline crack in the pipe at Red Moss near Netherley, just south of Aberdeen. This has forced Ineos as the operator to conduct a controlled shutdown of the pipeline.

www.offshoreenergytoday.com...

John Corr of energy consultancy Westwood Global said a shutdown lasting 28 days on Forties would mean companies racking up gross revenue deferrals totalling £600million ($795million) at current oil prices.

There's a diagram at the link showing how many platforms are affected by the shutdown.
www.energyvoice.com...

At this link there is a photograph showing the location of the leak.
www.energyvoice.com...

What isn't obvious from the wintertime photographs is the density of the summertime vegetation. It would have been possible to tunnel under the pipeline without being detected, given enough time and determination. For this reason I can't rule out sabotage unless evidence is produced showing some other cause.

Whatever the cause, the lawyers are happy.

. . . it looks like it will be a Merry Christmas and an even happier New Year for lawyers in the oil sector as traders reach for their contracts to see what can and cannot be done legally when force majeure is declared.

This is the bit I find most telling.

Speculation is rife about whether INEOS is being overly cautious by shutting down the whole system to deal with what appears to be a minor onshore leak in order to be able to pass back repair costs to the vendor. Others whisper darkly that if the onshore pipeline is showing hairline cracks how much worse must be the much larger web of offshore pipes?

www.energykeyfacts.com...


I know the Ninian Central concrete platform cracked during construction. I saw the photographs in 1979. When I blew the whistle on those cracks I was offered a bullet in the head. I know the North Sea oil industry is cack-handed, has many tentacles, and will stoop to anything.


In my opinion the North Sea oil infrastructure is not fit for purpose.

Good for lawyers. Proof that the devil looks after his own.

a reply to: Kester

In my opinion the North Sea oil infrastructure is not fit for purpose.

Humans. Only Humans are stupid enough to dig up the most toxic stuff on the planet, dump it by the tanker load into oceans, spread it over the ground for thousands of miles in every direction to make roads, and burn it to the air making pollution in every kind of combustible engine, on land, sea and air.

a reply to: Kester

I have to ask...

What manner of sabotage would cause only a hairline crack? Seems like some pretty spectacularly passive aggressive sabotage to me. Put another way, if I had been the one to go about the business of shutting down the pipeline, I would have just blown the thing completely up, absolutely wrecked it, at several points along its length, in an unrecoverable and entirely unmissable fashion. I would be looking to instantly cost someone a few billion pounds, not cause a minor chink, forcing a stoppage to be made for repair.

So I would imagine this will affect the price of crude (raise it), and will lead to alternative supply negotiations/contracts.....

a reply to: TrueBrit

What manner of sabotage would cause only a hairline crack?

Possibly undermining to cause stress fractures.


It may be just wear and tear which does create questions about the rest of the system.

a reply to: Kester

IDK. A hairline fracture on buried, pressurized steel sounds pretty run of the mill to me. Not sure on the sabotage part of it.

Maybe I am being too dramatic. Why not dig up a section and put a giant hole in it if that is the goal?

I am sure those with a financial stake in the matter (who have never touched physical labor in their lives) are suddenly experts on that which they have never seen or experienced.

It sounds like prudent behavior to check it out despite the immediate financial delay.