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Norwegian air force was ready to sink drifting barge - risk of damage claims for Eide Marine
The Norwegian airforce was ready to sink the "Eide Barge"" on New Year's Eve to Keep it from colliding with offshore installations in the Norwegian Valhall field in the North Sea. An air strike against the barge was one of the possibilities the Norwegian authorities were considering to prevent the barge that had broken loose from its tug to slam into the big offshore installations in the Valhall field. Some of the fixed installations in the Valhall field could have triggered an environmental disaster as well as heavy economic losses. Before a definite decision about an air strike was taken, the "Eide Barge 33" changed course, so there was no longer a risk of a collision. Eide Marine Services now risks great damage claims from the companies that own and operate the installations in the Valhall field, which closed down production and evacuated some of the employees while there was still a risk of a collision.
Barge under tow to Boknafjorden
The "Eide Barge 33" was on its way to Boknafjorden being towed by the "Siem Garnet" on Dec 31. In calmer waters the barge was to be switched to the "Eide Wrestler", which originally had the barge in tow from Tunisia, where she had delivered a floating dock of the Naval Depot in Kiel, to Høylandsbygd in Kvinnherad. She had broken lose in extreme weather and drifted to a distance of 2000 meters towards the oil platforms in the Valhall field in a distance of almost 2,000 meters. The oil production on Valhall and Ekofisk fields was closed after the barge went adrift and it was still unclear when the operation could be resumed after the shutdown. In total nearly 400 oil workers flown out of the Valhall and Ekofisk files. There was still a stiff gale force and an average wave height of 4 meters in area on Dec 31.
Barge threatened to drift agains oil platforms
More than 300 oil workers have been airlifted from the Norwegian sector of the North Sea after the "Eidebarge 33" went adrift in high seas in the evening of Dec 30, 2015. Several rigs were affected in the Valhall and Ekofisk oil fields after the barge broke anchor during a storm. During the night, 150 evacuated to nearby installations Ula and Gyda. Four helicopters were sent from Stavanger airport to the Valhall field between 0:45 and 1:30 a.m. to evacuate workers. BP was moving all 235 workers off the eight-rig Valhall platform as the barge was heading towards it 25 km from Valhall. Production, which had been at 50,000 barrels a day, was being shut down. ConocoPhilips also airlifted 145 workers from its Ekofisk oil field north of Valhall. Some were flown to other platforms in the area but the majority were taken ashore. One emergency team was left on the platform, with a helicopter available, should it be necessary for them to evacuate as well. On Dec 31 the barge passed the Valhall field without hitting any installations. At 12.24 a.m. the barge carved clear of the platform at a distance of 1,8 kilometers. mil (1.8 km). The company Eide Marinecontinued its efforts to regain control of the vessel. Two supply ships were in place. Another vessel made two unsuccessful attempts to take in tow the barge which was now drifting towards the Norwegian coast posing no longer a danger to other oil installations. The evacuated platform workers flown back in the run of the day. Some starting procedures have to follow before production can be started again. Full production was expected to be started in a few days. On Scene was a storm with wind peeds of up to 25 meters per second which has decreased gradually through the night reaching a wind speed of 15-16 meters per second the next morning. The "Siem Garnet" eventually managed to catch the barge. The anchor handling vessel arrived from Aberdeen. Norwegian reports with photos: http://www.tv2.no/a/7855791 http://www.vg.no/nyheter/innenriks/her-seiler-lekteren-forbi-plattformen/a/23588542/
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