Best Safety Practices for New Drilling Rigs, ADCO's Successful Precautions Approach

Abstract

Abu Dhabi Company for Onshore Oil Operations (ADCO) has recorded the lowest Total Recordable Case Frequency (TRCF) of 0.52 in its history. This is also a drilling worldwide record and it was achieved, despite ADCO have increased its drilling fleet by around 30%. This successful score could not have been achieved without proper planning and implementation of the new rigs, especially with limited resources and through very tight schedule to meet ADCO's business plan requirements.An assessment to our project leads us to collect all the inputs related to the best way for the safe start up of the rigs. Taking in consideration the changes in design and shortage in crew staff, we have built a detailed plan for the safe start up rigs with all the parameters such as human recourses, management involvement, and technical inspections. Furthermore, we have developed plan to be in three stages: commissioning, rig move, and rig spud for the first well. Being HSE the focus with the start up of the new rigs, the main challenge faced by the project team was to ensure the implementation of every step in our HSE plan. This allowed us to safely start up the new rigs while delivering the required operational performance despite the fact of staffing the rigs with about 50% green hats crews. For both operator and contractor, the responsibility for safety, health of workers and environment has increased due to considerable impact of strategic growth plans and additional workload. For the major projects like rig expansion we have applied the best functional planning for safety management system. This paper will discuss and review the methodology for the rig start up plan and implementation of the primary actions needed to be developed and monitored through minimizing the risk and the impact to the project cost and schedule. Success, failures, and lessons learned are highlighted through the sections in order that full knowledge of the current project is captured and mitigated in the ongoing expansion with additional rigs being ordered. This will enable ADCO to enhance HSE commitments ensuring new rigs are delivered ahead of time.