Shell's Alaska Mishaps Continue in Monster Seas

Dec 29th, 2012

by John Donovan.

Coast Guard cutter hits trouble trying to aid Shell rig off Alaska

The Aiviq and Kulluk as they set sail from Seattle earlier this year for offshore drilling in Alaska (Royal Dutch Shell / December 28, 2012)

By Kim MurphyDecember 28, 2012, 2:59 p.m.

SEATTLE — Adding to a season full of headaches for Shell Alaska's debut offshore drilling program in the U.S. Arctic, the company's Kulluk drilling rig was stuck in monster seas off the coast of Alaska on Friday as its tugboat's engines failed and the Coast Guard cutter that came to assist became entangled in a tow line.

There were no immediate threats to crew or equipment, but Shell Alaska was rushing additional aid vessels to the scene as the Kulluk, which drilled the beginnings of an exploratory oil well in the Beaufort Sea over the summer, sat without ability to move forward in 20-foot seas about 50 miles south of Kodiak.

"You become at the mercy of the seas when you don't have propulsion. The boat is going to go where the seas push it,"  Coast Guard Petty Officer 1^st Class David Mosley told the Los Angeles Times. "Twenty-foot seas, my office here, the ceilings are 10 feet high, and you're looking at double that."

Shell Alaska officials said emergency power generators were enabling the tug vessel, the Aiviq, to avoid significant drift, even with the 266-foot Kulluk drilling barge, which does not have its own propulsion engines, in tow.

Coast Guard officials said the Aiviq, which had been towing the Kulluk south from Dutch Harbor, Alaska, after the close of the drilling season, experienced not only tow line problems but  "multiple engine failures," and the Coast Guard cutter Alex Haley was deployed to try to help.

"They were towing in some heavy weather, and they lost the tow [line] between the Kulluk and the Aiviq," Mosley said. "They were able to reconnect, and as they started to tow again, the two vessels ended up with some issues on board that directly affected their engines — it sounds like it was a fuel issue. Not necessarily running out of fuel, but a fuel quality issue."

After working on the problem, he said, "They were able to get one engine back, which is giving them enough power to stay in their position, keep them from drifting anywhere."

Meanwhile, the Alex Haley had problems of its own when crew members attempted to attach a tow line from the Haley to one of the Shell vessels to help maintain positioning in the heavy seas.

"They were unsuccessful in doing that maneuver," Mosley said. The problem was compounded when the Haley's tow line got wrapped on one of the ship's own propellers. "It was the Alex Haley's tow line, and it is reported that one of the screws got fouled with the line," Mosley said, forcing the Haley to return to port.

"The Alex Haley is still maneuverable and operable, just at a limited capacity," he said.

A Coast Guard C-130 aircraft was sent from Kodiak to the scene to maintain a safety watch, while Shell dispatched additional vessels to help. "We are currently cascading assets into the theater to help secure the Aiviq and the Kulluk," Shell spokesman Curtis Smith said in an email.

However, the dispatch of those additional vessels is likely to delay the departure from Alaska of Shell's second Arctic drilling rig, the Noble Discoverer, which had been held up by the Coast Guard in Seward, Alaska, because of reported "discrepancies" in its safety and pollution discharge equipment.

The Discoverer had been scheduled to depart Seward for Seattle for additional maintenance and adjustments, but Smith said the dispatch of Shell's response vessels to aid the Kulluk means the Discoverer will likely be delayed.

Smith said the company's main focus is the 17 crew members on board the Kulluk and the 24 aboard the Aiviq.

"Our priority remains the safety of our personnel and the environment," he said. "All of our efforts are dedicated to making sure the crews on these vessels are safe."

SOURCE

Copyright © 2012, Los Angeles Times

Posted in: Alaska, Arctic, Environment, Los Angeles Times, Oil, Oil Spill, Royal Dutch Shell Plc, United States.
Tagged: Alaska · Arctic Ocean · Beaufort Sea · Chukchi Sea · Oil · Royal Dutch Shell Plc

← Tug Towing Shell Drilling Unit Suffers Engine Failures Near Kodiak

BG Group corporate incubator for Shell strays?

BG Group corporate incubator for Shell strays?

Dec 22nd, 2012

by John Donovan. 

No comments yet

Anyway for fair reason or foul, Finlayson arrives, Carne leaves, Finlayson reaches the Board, Berget maybe gets his marching orders. Maybe all pals together they were keeping BG seats warm for the next Shell bum or maybe there was more to it as suggested, anyway it shows BG Advance as an entity acting as a corporate incubator for Shell strays?

By Bill Campbell, retired HSE Group Auditor, Shell International

Post Piper Alpha it was readily apparent to Lord Cullen that the legislation pertaining to offshore oil and gas extraction was weak with regards to pinning down responsibility and accountability. At that time the statutory instrument SI 1019 made the Offshore Installation Manager (OIM) specifically responsible for what happened offshore re health and safety.

SI 1019 essentially made the OIM Captain of the ship and Occidental Directors appeared on paper at least to be twice removed from how these issues were handled offshore on their installations.

Cullen wanted to changes this so his recommendations put into Law reduced the burden on the OIM and through the development of Safety Cases wished Operators to demonstrate the responsibility and accountability of the Board and its Directors for oversight and governance of its oil and gas extraction activities offshore from design of the installation to abandonment.

So in every Shell Safety Case, for every installation it operated such as Brent Bravo, there is reference to a Corporate Management System (CMS). This in simple terms explained what the high level Policy of the Company is and describes the Board directors who have specific accountabilities under the MD for offshore operations. It does not name the Director's – it's a generic document, but states the job title and accountabilities. In 1999 it had two principal Directorates, the Oil Director located in Aberdeen for Northern operations (Finlayson) and the Gas Director for operations in the Southern region based in Lowestoft.

The CMS makes it clear, as you would expect in a legally binding document that the Oil and Gas Directors were accountable for maintaining and adhering to Shell Policy and procedure and compliance with the Law in all it did offshore. The buck stopped with them and the MD who had oversight over their activities. These Directors visited offshore, were party to minutes of onshore and offshore safety meetings and were the recipients of internal audits carried out in their areas of accountability, which were then discussed at the Internal Audit Committee in which they were participants. They could not and should not have been able to plead corporate ignorance after the event or put the blame on workers at the coal face (as was the want of van der Veer, Finlayson and Brinded don't sign permits, May 2005)

This avoided, or should have avoided, what Cullen expected, that after a major accident event there would be a trail to the said Director and it would be clear if that Director had exercised leadership and commitment to Safety or otherwise was culpable through neglect.

Brent Bravo would have been an example of Cullen's brave new world in action but the system failed. I have explained many times why it failed, mainly because of the intervention of the then Oil Minister and the desire of the Scottish authorities to cover up this intervention, which had fatal consequences some 4 years later.

British Gas

It is noted that in the BG press release of 13th December 2012 the CV for Finlayson gives the job description Deputy MD of Shell UK E&P from 1998 till 2000. The CV states that he was responsible for the three Northern North Sea business Northern, Central and Southern but that is incorrect. At the time of the 1999 Audit he was Oil Director (UED)responsible for North and Central. Mark Carne (UEC) was the Central General Manager reporting to Finlayson but there was an American, (Botts) who was Gas Director for Southern ops based in Lowestoft.

It was in this role that he Finlayson made the false and misleading statements on 9th Sept 1999 to BBC Aberdeen, Colin Wight of the P&J, Jeremy Cresswell, and the Scotsman journalist Frank Urquart re Touch F*** All. The then Shell Expro Internal Audit Manager Gerbrand Moyes, myself and the senior auditor Ken Merry in a series of meetings could not get Finlayson to correct the statements made and this was highlighted in the final 1999 Audit presentation to management with UED, UES and UEC present as a major reputation risk should the truth ever get onto the streets.

Finlayson could not retract the statement he said because of the implications to both him and Shell but said that on 9th Sept 1999 he made the press comments in good faith having been given assurances on its accuracy by Jorn Berget, then the General Manager of Brent and his Deputy the Brent Asset Manager David Bayliss.

When interviewed by Stausholm and Sykes in early 2005 during the investigation into Brinded – Finlayson again reiterated that he had made the statement re TFA in 1999 in good faith but now accepted that the statement was incorrect – he had been misled by Berget and Bayliss.

BG appearing to be some sort of institution for Shell bad boys appointed Jorn Berget as executive VP for BG Advance on 12th Oct 2004 and Mark Carne as Executive VP on 7th March 2005.

Finlayson joined his old buddies at BG in August 2010 and joined the Board on 15th November 2011. The same press release on 15th November stated that Berget would step down from that position immediately and retire in 2012. Makes you wonder if dear Chris was exacting revenge or getting rid of deadwood.

And finally Finlayson on 13th December last is appointed CEO of BG Group.

Nowhere in the flattering and in my judgement misleading CV for Finlayson is there any mention of the words safety, health or environment. It eulogises Finlayson for his optimising of production and operating performance, well that is what TFA was all about.

Finlayson is quoted as having outstanding line operating experience. Such experience had its results in the now premature shutdown and planned abandonment of Brent. His inability to act, he appeared weak, out of his depth in 1999, unable to stand up to TFA Brinded and the founder member of the Rottweiler School of Business management David Bayliss, meant his inactions in 1999 contributed to the chronic failure of essential controls from 1998 to 2004 leading to the fatalities.

Left out a bit of the merry-go round story.

Mark Carne resigns after only a few months as Country Chairman forShell Brunei in March 2005 to join BG as an Executive VP. Finlaysonarrives at BG as an EVP in 2010 and Carne leaves shortly after in Sept 2010 to rejoin Shell as Country Chairman for Dubai and the Northern Emirates, a case of musical chairs or they do not like each other, after all Carne was the only guy who spoke out in 1999.

Note all three, Berget, Carne and Finlayson arrived in Aberdeen brought in from relative obscurity by their mentor Malcolm, his disciples we used to call them. They no doubt owed allegiance to Malcolm for their rapid promotion.

Interestingly I met Carne in 2005 during a bloody awful Audit of the Scott Oil Terminal in Brunei. Carne had issued a note congratulating the management and staff at the terminal for keeping oil flowing despite tanker delays. We found this was due to the guys standing on the tank roofs till the oil flowed out of the tell tale holes at the top of the tanks, some tanks showed stress and buckling. So he had unknowingly given them bonuses etc for breaking every rule in the book.

It was an embarrassment to him and as an unacceptable audit he was going to get it in the neck from his old boss TFA Brinded now Executive Director of Royal Dutch Shell. He wanted the Audit toned down but there was no way. I think this was one of the factors, which influenced his quick departure from Brunei.

Anyway for fair reason or foul, Finlayson arrives, Carne leaves,Finlayson reaches the Board, Berget maybe gets his marching orders. Maybe all pals together they were keeping BG seats warm for the nextShell bum or maybe there was more to it as suggested, anyway it shows BG Advance as an entity acting as a corporate incubator forShell strays?

Posted in: BG Group, Bill Campbell, Chris Finlayson, Gas, GoogleNews, Malcolm Brinded, Royal Dutch Shell Plc.
Tagged: Bill Campbell Shell · Malcolm Brinded · Piper Alpha disaster · Royal Dutch Shell Plc

BG Group CEO Chris Finlayson and the Shell 'Touch Fuck All' Scandal

Dec 20th, 2012

by John Donovan.

"Hyman et al should be reminded that Shell pled guilty on behalf of its Directors to all charges placed before them. So whatever gloss you paint over the turd, Finlayson and Brinded failed as Directors in their principal duty to comply with the Law so that risks to those persons exposed to these risks offshore were minimised, as was their legal responsibility."

STATEMENT ISSUED ON 19 DECEMBER 2012 BY MR BILL CAMPBELL, RETIRED HSE GROUP AUDITOR, SHELL INTERNATIONAL: APPOINTMENT OF CHRIS FINLAYSON AS CEO OF BG GROUP

It appears that not just individuals but organisations have selective memory.  LK Hyman, BG Group, and others should bear in mind the facts that criminal neglect of maintenance over a prolonged period 1999 to 2003 caused the deaths of two men in Sept 2003 after the release of over 6000 m3 of gas into an enclosed space – that is what the Inquiry found and he needs to be reminded that Chris Finlayson and Malcolm Brinded were responsible in Law for the well being of 1000′s of employees over that prolonged period. As stated in writing by the then Lord Advocate in a parliamentary reply the haphazard management of safety over a prolonged period contributed directly to the deaths and the Director of these offshore activities during this period was Finlayson. He had been forewarned in 1999 that a serious accidentevent was inevitable if actions were not taken and he failed, failed totally, to heed these warnings. We got lucky in a sense that the gas did not ignite which as a consequence could have led to a Piper or Deepwater type of catastrophe.  Hyman et al should be reminded that Shell pled guilty on behalf of its Directors to all charges placed before them. So whatever gloss you paint over the turd, Finlayson and Brinded failed as Directors in their principal duty to comply with the Law so that risks to those persons exposed to these risks offshore were minimised, as was their legal responsibility.

Bill Campbell

ANNOUNCEMENT BY JOHN DONOVAN

A Draft article entitled "How Chris Finlayson bungled the Mother of all Projects: Sakhalin II" will be supplied to BG Group and Shell on Friday and published next week. It contains, in his own words never meant for public consumption, Chris Finlaysons confidential insider account of his disastrous negotiations with Gazprom, which cost Shell its majority stake in the project. We will then publish a false and misleading defence by Chris Finlayson, again in his own words, of Shell's notorious "Touch Fuck All" approach to safely maintenance on North Sea Platforms. May cause some anxiety for BG Group employees. 

Posted in: BG Group, Bill Campbell, Business Principles, Gas, GoogleNews, Malcolm Brinded, Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Shell Employee Safety.
Tagged: Bill Campbell Shell · Malcolm Brinded · Royal Dutch Shell Plc · Shell Brent Bravo Scandal · Shell North Sea Platforms

← Shell CEO Peter Voser tainted by UBS Scandals

Motiva Port Arthur Restart Delayed Until Next Week – Source →

FUNNY $5.37

From: Alfred Clayton

Date: Fri, Dec 21, 2012 at 12:00 PM

Funny! $5.37! That's what the kid behind the counter At Taco Bell said to me. I dug into my pocket and pulled out Some lint and two dimes and something that used to be a Jolly Rancher. Having already handed the kid a Five-spot, I started to head back out to the truck to grab Some change When the kid with the Elmo hairdo said The hardest thing anyone has ever said to Me. He said, "It's OK. I'll just give you the senior citizen Discount." I turned to see who He was talking to and then heard the sound of change hitting The counter in front of me. "Only$4.68" he said cheerfully. I stood There stupefied. I am 56, not even 60 Yet? A mere Child! Senior citizen? I took my Burrito and walked out to the truck wondering what was wrong With Elmo. Was he blind? As I sat in the truck, my blood began To boil. Old? Me? I'll show him, I Thought. I opened the door and headed back Inside. I strode to the counter, And there he was waiting with a Smile. Before I could say a word, he held up something And jingled it in front of me, Like I could be that easily Distracted! What am I Now? A Toddler? "Dude! Can't get too far without your car keys, He?" I stared with utter disdain at the Keys. I began to rationalize in my mind! "Leaving keys behind Hardly makes a man elderly! It could happen to Anyone!" I turned and Headed back to the truck. I slipped the key into the ignition, But it wouldn't turn. What Now? I checked my keys and tried Another. Still nothing. That's when I Noticed the purple Beads hanging from my Rear view mirror. I had no purple Beads hanging from my rear view Mirror. Then, a few other objects came into Focus: The car seat in the back Seat. Happy Meal toys spread all over the Floorboard. A partially eaten dough nut on the Dashboard. Faster than you can say Ginkgo Biloba, I flew Out of the alien vehicle. Moments later I was Speeding out of the parking lot, Relieved to finally be leaving this Nightmarish stop in my life. That is when I felt it, deep in the Bowels of my stomach: hunger! My stomach growled and churned, and I Reached to grab my burrito, Only it was nowhere to be Found. I swung the truck around, gathered my Courage, And strode back into the restaurant One final time. There Elmo stood, draped in youth and Black nail polish. All I could think was, "What is the world coming To?" All I could say was, "Did I leave my food and drink in Here"? At this point I was ready to ask a Boy Scout to help me back to my Vehicle, And then go straight home and apply For Social Security benefits. Elmo had no Clue. I walked back out to the Truck, And suddenly a young lad came up and Tugged on my jeans to get my Attention. He was holding up a drink and a Bag. His mother Explained, "I think you left This in my truck by mistake." I took the food and drink from the Little boy and sheepishly apologized. She offered these Kind words: "It's OK. My Grandfather does stuff like this all the Time." All of this is to explain how I got a Ticket doing 85 in a 40 mph zone. Yessss, I was racing Some punk kid in a Toyota Prius. And no, I told the officer, I'm Nottoo Old to be Driving this fast. As I walked in the front door, my Wife met me halfway down the Hall. I handed her a bag of cold food and a $300 speeding Ticket. I promptly sat in my rocking chair and Covered up my legs with a blankey. The good news was that I had Successfully found my way home. Pass this on to the Other "old fogies" on your list (so they can have Fun laughing, too). Notice the Larger Type? That's for those of us who have Trouble reading. P.S. Save the earth...... It's the Only planet with chocolate!!!!! Oh, did I send this to you already? Sorry. I hope you liked it again for the first time, like I did.

Shell CEO Peter Voser tainted by UBS Scandals

Dec 19th, 2012

by John Donovan.

Voser was said to have provided significant input to the stabilization of the scandal ridden Swiss bank. Ironic spin given that the Swiss Justice Minister warned only months later that UBS was in danger of collapse. It actually has a reputation riddled with more holes than Swiss cheese.

By John Donovan

From April 2005 to April 2010 the current Chief Executive Officer of Royal Dutch Shell Plc, the Swiss national, Mr. Peter Voser, served on the Board of Directors of the Swiss bank UBS AG. He was a member of the governance and nominating committee and of the strategy committee.

Voser was said to have provided significant input to the stabilization of the scandal ridden Swiss bank. Ironic spin given that the Swiss Justice Minister warned only months later that UBS was in danger of collapse. It actually has a reputation riddled with more holes than Swiss cheese.

This is the bank with a track record of fraud and as a tax dodging facilitator stretching back over the time when Peter Voser was an independent non-executive director.

He was supposed to scrutinize the performance of UBS management monitoring and where necessary removing senior management, as well as satisfying himself that financial information was accurate and that financial controls and systems of risk management were robust and defensible. (Information sourced from Wikipedia)

Today the Bank was fined $1.5B for libor rate manipulation during the very period that he was supposed to be performing an independent oversight function as a non-executive director. According to news reports, the rigging was widespread at UBS.

Interesting to note that the reference to UBS that used to be shown on the Peter Voser Wikipedia page has been deleted.

Extracts from CBS news report 19 December 2012

Switzerland's UBS AG agreed Wednesday to pay some $1.5 billion in fines to international regulators following a probe into the rigging of a key global interest rate. In admitting to fraud, Switzerland's largest bank became the second bank, after Britain's Barclays PLC, to settle over the rate-rigging scandal.

As well as being ensnared in the industry-wide investigation into alleged manipulations of the benchmark LIBOR interest rate, short for London interbank offered rate, UBS has seen its reputation suffer in a London trial into a multibillion dollar trading scandal and ongoing tax evasion probes.

"We deeply regret this inappropriate and unethical behavior. No amount of profit is more important than the reputation of the firm, and we are committed to doing business with integrity," he said.

It's not the first time that UBS has fallen afoul of regulators. Notably, in 2009, U.S. authorities fined UBS $780 million in 2009 for helping U.S. citizens avoid paying taxes.

The Wall Street Journal writes that "authorities on Wednesday painted a picture of 'routine and widespread' attempts by UBS employees to rig Libor and the euro interbank offered rate, or Euribor. The U.K. Financial Services Authority said it had identified more than 2,000 such attempts between 2005 and 2010 with the participation or awareness of at least 45 UBS traders and executives. Adding to the severity of the allegations, the FSA said UBS engaged in collusive efforts with other financial institutions to rig the benchmarks."

Related royaldutchshellplc.com articles

Plan to break up disastrously mismanaged UBS bank accused of fraud: Shell CFO Peter Voser is a director: 8 April 2008

Shell appoints UBS *(keep it in the family – Shell CFO/CEO Peter Voser is a director of UBS): 13 May 2009

Swiss warn UBS bank could collapse – Shell CEO Voser is a UBS director: 1 February 2010

Peter Voser, another Shell CEO tainted by scandal: 29 July 2012

We will shortly publish an article about Simon Henry, the Chief Financial Officer of Royal Dutch Shell Plc. It will focus on his connection with the Shell reserves scandal.

Posted in: Corporate Governance, GoogleNews, John Donovan, Peter Voser, Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Shell, Shell Oil Reserves Scandal, Simon Henry.
Tagged: John Donovan · Peter Voser · Royal Dutch Shell Plc

← CHRIS FINLAYSON AND THE ROYAL DUTCH SHELL RESERVES SCANDAL