Centrica has confirmed to Rigzone that a vessel came into contact with Centrica Storage Limited’s Bravo 47/3 platform in the North Sea crude gas field at around 12pm on 22 April.
“There were no injuries and all staff were safe and accounted for,” a Centrica spokesperson told Rigzone.
“The safety of our employees and partners is our number one priority and as a precaution we have sent home all non-essential platform staff. Our emergency response plan was put in place to deal with and investigate the incident,” the spokesman added.
A spokesperson for HM Coastguard told Rigzone that the agency was alerted at around 12.10pm on 22 April to a report of a collision between a vessel and an offshore gas installation in North Sea, off the coast of Yorkshire.
“There is no need to dispatch coast guard teams and there have been no reports of casualties, contamination or structural damage to the rig,” the spokesman said.
Rigzone has asked both Centrica and HM Coastguard for information about the shipowner. Neither has provided any details on this to Rigzone at the time of writing.
Centrica Storage Limited has two offshore platforms in the crude gas field: 47/3 Bravo and 47/8 Alpha, Centrica’s website shows. The 47/3 Bravo is described as the company’s “primary manned complex” at the site, highlighting that the rig is divided into three separate rigs linked by bridges and operates 24 wells.
The platform withdraws gas from the wells as steam, which is then piped through a 36-inch subsea pipeline to its Easington terminal, where it undergoes various separation processes before being sent to the System National Transmission (NTS), as the site explains. The Alpha 47/8 rig was the original facility and produced Rough’s first gas, but is now an unmanned cold-stacked rig, the site notes.
In October 2022, Centrica announced the reopening of the raw gas storage facility, “after completing major engineering upgrades over the summer and commissioning in the early fall.”
The initial investment program meant the company had made its first injection of gas at the site in more than five years and was in a position to store up to 30 billion cubic feet of gas for UK homes and businesses during the winter 2022/23, according to a published statement. at the Centrica site at the indicated time.
“Our long-term aim remains to make the Rough field the world’s largest methane and hydrogen storage facility, strengthening the UK’s energy security, delivering a net-zero electricity system by 2035” , said Centrica CEO Chris O’Shea.
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