|
''Arctic Challenger'' is a barge which has been converted by Superior Energy Services for use in the Arctic drilling operations of Shell Oil Company.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Superior Energy Services (SPN) — Global Oil Field Services & Equipment, Oil Well Intervention, Employment & SPN Subsidiaries )〕 This barge is designed to function as a "novel engineering solution" which they refer to as an Arctic Containment System〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Arctic Containment System )〕 to respond should a blowout event occur at drilling sites in the Beaufort or Chukchi Seas. According to testimony provided to Senator Mark Begich on 11 October 2012,〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Begich receives upbeat report from federal and industry officials on 2012 oil drilling season )〕 Coast Guard Rear Admiral Thomas Ostebo said the certification for the Shell spill barge Arctic Challenger to operate in Alaska was given on the 10th of October at the Bellingham, Washington shipyard where it was constructed. Ostebo is commander of the Coast Guard’s 17th district, which covers Alaska. The US Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) reported that the vessel was able to meet their requirement for processing 2000 gallons of seawater per minute during testing in March, 2013.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Shell’s Arctic ‘beer can’ passes federal test in Puget Sound )〕 Greenberry Industrial has been contracted to provide fabrication and construction services〔 at the Port of Bellingham in Washington state. Shell Oil Company intends ''Arctic Challenger'' and it's onboard systems to serve as their "fourth line of defense"〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Shell's safety system problems plague Arctic plans )〕 against a blow out in their drilling operations in the Arctic that could result in a seafloor oil gusher. The major component of the project is the containment dome which is designed to be lowered over the blowout to vacuum up the spewing crude oil and natural gas and to deliver those products to the equipment on the ship for separation and processing to ameliorate the damage otherwise expected from a submarine blowout resulting from a drilling catastrophe such as occurred with the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and other offshore blowouts.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Worst Offshore Blowouts - Oil Rig Disasters - Offshore Drilling Accidents )〕 The first line of defense is pouring drilling mud down the well. The second line is activating a blowout preventer, which for Shell Oil in the Arctic involves a double shear ram for redundancy. The third line defense is a capping stack such as was used to try to contain the Macondo Well blowout from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill of 2010. The fourth line is the containment dome. There is experience with such technology on the BP Macondo Well in 2010. That attempt failed ultimately because "methane gas escaping from the well would come into contact with cold sea water and form slushy hydrates, essentially clogging the cofferdam with hydrocarbon ice." Shell Oil Company has stated via their spokesperson Kelly op de Weegh “We are committed to having the Arctic containment system in place before drilling through liquid hydrocarbon zones, and that commitment will not change. We are nearing completion of this first-of-its-kind Arctic containment system, which houses response, containment and separation processes in one vessel. While it’s a fourth line of defense in the unlikely event of a loss of well control, it will not be deployed until it meets our high standards.”〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Fuel Fix » Shell’s drilling rig begins two-week trek to Arctic sea )〕 From the report on the Deepwater Horizon oil spill by the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling:
==Gallery== File:The_repairing_and_rebuilding_of_the_damaged_containment_dome_for_the_Arctic_Challenger_of_Shell_Oil_Company..JPG|Rebuilding of the containment dome at the Port of Bellingham by contractors of Superior Energy Services, Greenberry Industrial on behalf of Shell Oil Company. File:Loading the repaired and modified Containment Dome onto the Arctic Challenger.JPG|The repaired and improved containment dome is hoisted onto the Arctic Challenger prior to leaving for testing. File:Arctic Challenger leaving Port of Bellingham for second round of testing.JPG|The Arctic Challenger is towed by tugs ''Arctic Titan'' and ''Lindsay Foss'' out to the testing site at the Vendovi Anchorage just north of Samish Island in the Samish Bay . 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「Arctic Challenger」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|