Oil giant BP has reportedly removed two workers from its ETAP project, in the UK sector of the North Sea, after finding a syringe on an accommodation rig.
According to Oil and Gas People , an oil industry’s job site, the incident happened on Prosafe’s 1982-built flotel Safe Caledonia that is under a contract with BP on the Eastern Trough Area Project (ETAP), located 240 km east of Aberdeen in the Central North Sea.
BP hired Prosafe’s flotel for a firm period of 13 months in 2013 with the contract start date in mid-2015. In addition, BP has three additional one-month options and one fourteen-day option.
The job site reported the syringe was found in the laundry by one of the housekeeping staff prompting the company to conduct drug tests on over 400 workers on the accommodation rig. After two workers failed the drug test, they were removed from the rig. However, the website further reported, it has since been discovered that the syringe might actually be part of a paint testing kit.
Offshore Energy Today has reached out to BP seeking confirmation of this report.
In an e-mail to Offshore Energy Today, BP’s spokesperson confirmed the syringe was found onboard the Safe Caledonia flotel on April 15.
The spokesperson added: “There are of course a number of medical reasons why a syringe may be required by personnel offshore however, in line with our zero tolerance policy for substance misuse, we have chosen to the take the precautionary step of testing all those onboard.”
The spokesperson also clarified that while two individuals received a non-negative result “ this is not called ‘positive’ and likewise is not necessarily a fail”.
“There are a number of legitimate reasons for a non-negative result,” the spokesperson stated.
In addition, the spokesperson said: “We are only able to carry out initial screenings offshore – when we receive a non-negative result individuals return onshore for more robust testing.”
ETAP is an integrated development of nine oil and gas reservoirs, with six separate fields operated by BP, and three fields operated by Shell. It is developed using a central processing facility (CPF) operated by BP, comprising a processing, drilling and riser (PdR) platform, bridge-linked to a quarters and utilities (QU) platform over Marnock, and a normally unmanned installation (NUI) on Mungo.
BP’s reserves in ETAP lie in its interests in Marnock, Mungo, Machar, Monan, Mirren and Madoes fields.
Offshore Energy Today Staff