Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

TotalEnergies warned over major safety risk on North Sea platform

Inspection highlighted potential for fatality amid concerns dating back to 2016.

TotalEnergies' Dunbar platform.
TotalEnergies' Dunbar platform.

Safety chiefs have reprimanded UK North Sea operator TotalEnergies after equipment on its Dunbar platform was left in a poor state of repair for years.

An improvement notice was issued to the French firm after inspectors found it had failed to maintain gearboxes on the pedestal crane on Dunbar in “efficient working order and in good repair” since 2016.

Health and Safety Executive (HSE) officials recorded a “significant deterioration” in key gearbox readings during an inspection in November 2022.

Operator pledges to replace equipment by the end of October

The findings suggested machinery used to move the crane boom horizontally could suffer from reduced motion, due to excess play or gaps between the teeth of the gears.

TotalEnergies has confirmed the equipment will be replaced by the end of next month.

According to the notice, the operator was advised last November to take action and gave a written commitment to replace the machinery by May 26, but “failed to do so”.

TotalEnergies logo.
TotalEnergies is among the bigger players in the UK North Sea. Image: Shutterstock

HSE added: “You then committed to repairing the slew drive gearboxes during [the] week of July 10 2023, but failed to do so.”

At a meeting on August 4, representatives of TotalEnergies told HSE they had tried to replace the components in question but could not as they “were seized in place”.

HSE said this was “foreseeable, given survey works previously completed”.

A risk assessment after August found the deterioration “could cause a fatality”.

Fatality ‘very unlikely’

The improvement notice gives the operator until October 31 to remedy the situation.

TotalEnergies said it had tried to address the issue but faced technical difficulties.

And it insisted the chance of any fatal consequences was “very unlikely”.

Dunbar
Dunbar: Image: TotalEnergies

A spokesperson for the company added: “We received an improvement notice on our Dunbar asset due to delayed maintenance on a crane gearbox.

“Work had commenced but we faced some technical difficulties which delayed the repair.

“We presented a timebound plan to the HSE, which has been accepted. The gearbox will be replaced by 31/10/23.”

The spokesperson said the company prides itself in being “open and honest with the HSE on all our sites and during all inspections”, adding: “We respect their findings and respond as required.”

Previous warnings

However, the latest notice is one of several prompted by safety inspectors at Dunbar.

HSE has previously written to the operator about areas of concern including expired certification dates for lifejackets, fire deluge system testing and “multiple well integrity issues” on one of the production wells.

Discovered in 1973 and brought on-line in 1994, Dunbar is in the northern North Sea, nearly 100 miles east of Shetland.

Conversation