The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
Sinking boat at BP field
Incident: Vessel took on water after hatch issue
An investigation has been launched after a cover hatch failure resulted in a vessel taking on water at a BP-operated field located west of Shetland.
The Fettercairn work boat, owned by subsea maintenance firm N-Sea, is understood to have been incorrectly used as a dive vessel during inspection work alongside the Petrojarl Foinaven floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel.
The hatch breach allowed water to pour into the engine room, forcing the evacuation of what’s thought to have been a 10-strong crew. They were taken to a nearby recovery vessel and were not injured.
However, the incident at the Foinaven field, 120 miles west of Shetland, has sparked a probe by FPSO operator Altera.
An Altera spokesman said: “We can confirm a third-party diving daughter craft sustained equipment damage during maintenance and inspection work at the Foinaven field.
“No one was injured and there was no impact on the environment.
“The safety of our crew and our vendors’ crew is our first priority”
“An investigation has been launched to identify the cause and avoid similar incidents in the future.
“The safety of our crew and our vendors’ crew is always our first priority.”
The incident, which resulted in the Fettercairn work boat starting to sink, was only resolved once the daughter craft was attached to the Olympic Zeus mother ship and the diving team was removed.
Dutch firm N-Sea, which has an office and a yard space in Aberdeen, also confirmed the 36foot Fettercairn sustained “equipment damage”.
A spokeswoman for the firm added: “All persons on board the daughter craft were safely recovered to the mother vessel, without injury.
“After recovery to deck, the mother vessel returned to port, whereby the Fettercairn underwent equipment repair.
“On completion of repair, the Fettercairn sailed back into operations.”
A spokesman for BP North Sea said: “We are aware of this incident and remain ready to support Altera in their investigation.”
BP’s Foinaven field was first discovered in 1990 and was sanctioned for development in 1994.
First oil from the field was in November 1997.