The moonpool is a congested area of the rig including heavy equipment and hazardous operations. As such, it is crucial to have optimal handling systems in order to ensure safe and efficient operations.
The oil and gas industry continues to evolve and expectations to efficiency, safety and environmental awareness continues to increase. On top of this, limits are being pushed as rigs are operating in harsher weather conditions. The time spent on drilling and delivering a well is challenged and expected to be reduced.
The challenge is to meet these growing demands and expectations, and at the same time reducing the risk to personnel, the environment and equipment
As such, it is a crucial factor to incorporate better systems that remove the need for manual work, move personnel out of harm’s way and ensure the safety of the crew and the environment, as well as the equipment.
Suggested reading: How Updated Handling Systems Can Give Your Rig a Competitive Advantage
Moonpool handling systems
The moonpool is known as a hazardous area. The equipment today is heavier, more complex and must be handled in harsh weather conditions. Also, what used to be considered acceptable, no longer is when it comes to environmental risk and personal safety.
Unwanted and serious incidents are very costly; it means downtime, investigations, bad reputation and potential injury to personnel and contract termination.
Typically, the drilling industry has well defined boundaries to operate within:
- Weather and rig operating criteria
- Company and authority safety regulations
- Crew competence
- Equipment capacities
- Rig functionality
In order to control your risk level during operations you need a well-trained crew with high safety awareness, combined with robust and well-functioning equipment that your crews are trained to operate.
The above will always be the foundation for a well-functioning rig. However, building on this basis, incorporating better systems that remove the need for manual work, move personnel out of harm’s way and ensure the safety of the crew and the environment, should always be a target.
Optimizing your moonpool handling systems can enable your crew to maintain drilling activities and operate the equipment safely and efficiently, and at the same time increase the rig’s operational weather window keeping the client satisfied.
A typical example is when connecting Kill, Choke, Boost and Conduit (often shortened to K&C, plus Boost and Conduit) hoses to the telescopic joint in moonpool on floating drilling rigs.
Traditional method:
- 8–10 personnel, winches/cherry pickers/snatch blocks
- Manual work over open sea to a moving slip joint
- Duration: up to one shift (10–12 hours), weather dependent
This is a very hazardous operation and involves significant risk.