Local firm awarded contract to dismantle rigs

A local company has been awarded the country’s biggest ever oil rig dismantling contract. Abbott UK will recycle and dispose of the North-West Lennon platform at its Blackthorn yard, in Hartford. Last night, Abbott Chief Executive, Peter Stephens, said: ‘We are very pleased. We have been involved in the technical process of getting the contract for a couple of years.

The North-West Lennon is a very big platform and dismantling it will mean two years of work.’ The rig’s topsides and steel jacket will be removed by heavy lift vessel and towed 130 km to Abbott’s Hartford yard for disposal.

BP awarded the offshore removal and onshore recycling of the rig to prime contractor Heering Marine Contractors, of Leiden, in the Netherlands. Work will be carried out by a range of specialist subsea, engineering and waste handling companies, including Abbott. The contract represents the largest remaining element of the North-West Lennon decommissioning project.

Work already completed includes the well abandonment and topsides cleanup phases carried out after the field ceased production at the end of 2008. The pipeline decommissioning, debris clearance and site inspection is all that remains. BP is proud of its excellent safety performance record to date. ‘Ensuring that we complete the offshore removal and onshore disposal safely and in an environmentally responsible manner will continue to be priorities,’ said spokesman Richard Webb

Задание 2. Прочитайте и выучите диалог наизусть:

Task 2. Read and learn this dialogue by heart:

AN: At what stage is the decision taken to build a platform?

JM: Well, platform fabrication is pretty much the first step after establishing that a field will be commercially viable?

AN: How long does it take?

JM: The jacket – that’s the legs and support for the rig – can take at least two years to build. But having said that, fields in the North Sea are getting smaller these days, so we can often speed things up by using smaller specialist equipment attached to existing rigs. We can get those into operation in a few months.

AN: I see. And how do you get the jacket out here once it’s built?

JM: It has to be towed out to sea by barge during a ‘fine weather window’ in summer and up-ended into position by flooding the ballast tanks in its legs and secured to the seabed with concrete piles. The deck support and production units are put in place by crane barges which can lift over 10,000 tones of equipment at once.

AN: That’s incredible.

JM: Sometimes with concrete jackets the initial erection is carried out in a sheltered bay and the whole structure is towed out and secured. Nowadays, we tend to use steel which is much lighter.

AN: And how long does it take before the platform is up and running?

JM: Anything up to a year really. We have to hook up and test all the equipment ready for drilling and production. There can be a thousand people working on the platform before it comes on-stream!

AN: Amazing.

Задание 3. Закончите предложение, используя одно слово из каждой колонки:

Task 3. Complete the sentences below using one word from each box.

call, carry(x2), deal, hook, put, set, slow, sort, speed, tow, work

Down, off(x2), out(x4), up(x3), with, on

1. We can only _____ the jacket _____ to sea when the weather is good.

2. Sometimes, we have to _____ _____ the work until the weather is better.

3. I told the operator to _____ _____. He was going far too fast.

4. I told the operator to _____ _____. He was going far too slowly.

5. We had to _____ _____ a lot of paperwork before the work could start (two answers).

6. Before operations can begin, we have to _____ _____ and test all the equipment.

7. The maintenance team needs to _____ _____ hundreds of different tests.

8. You're doing fine. If you _____ _____ like that, you will be very successful.

9. With a laser scanner, it is much easier to _____ _____ the dimensions of the pipes.

10. Unfortunately, we have had to _____ ______ the meeting. No one can make it at that time.

Задание 4. Какие из этих глаголов и выражений ассоциируется с «установкой вышки», а какие с «демонтажем». Заполните таблицу:

Task 4. Which of these verbs and verb phrases do you associate with the erection of a rig, and which do you associate with dismantling? Write the words in the correct columns: abandoned, attached to the deck, broken up for scrap, decommissioned, disposed of or recycled, installed, lifted into place, mounted, detached from its mountings, secured to the seabed, towed back to shore, unscrewed

Erection	Dismantling

Задание 5. Соедините глаголы 1-5 с существительными a-e:

Task 5. Match the verbs 1-5 with the nouns a-e.

1. Turn a) the gauge

2. Close b) the pressure

3. Read c) the valve

4. Write d) the wheel

5. Check e) the flanges

Задание 6. Прочитайте и выучите диалог наизусть:

Task 6. Read and learn this dialogue by heart:

Supervisor: OK. Listen carefully.

Trainee: Understood.

Supervisor: First, you turn this hand wheel.

Trainee: Clockwise?

Supervisor: No, anti-clockwise.

Trainee: OK, anti-clockwise.

Supervisor: Turn it until it's open.

Trainee: OK. Until it's open.

Supervisor: Next, close this valve.

Trainee: OK. Then close the valve.

Supervisor: And then wait a couple of minutes.

Trainee: Wait a couple of minutes.

Supervisor: Then read the gauge and write the pressure in the log book.

Trainee: OK. Got that.

Supervisor: And finally, check the flanges and the valves.

Trainee: For leaks?

Supervisor: Yes, that's right.

Задание 7a. Подчеркните ключевые слова, использующиеся для прогноза как в примере:

Task 7a. Underline the key phrases used for making forecasts. The first one is done for you:

1. Technology is certainly going to play a crucial role in increasing recovery.

2. In the future, offshore platforms could well be run by robots alone.

3. It is quite likely that operators will not need to be transported out to the rigs.

4. Recovery costs could easily be reduced by up to 50%.

5. These platforms might possibly look like hi-tech warehouses.

6. It is highly unlikely that supplies of oil and gas will increase.

7. We are fairly convinced that seabed rigs will replace topside platforms for subsea drilling.

8. The profitability of many oilfields will undoubtedly depend on the prices of oil and gas.

9. We are pretty sure that the oil and gas industry will continue to play a major role in the global economy.

Задание 7b. Что случилось, если бы прогноз из упражнения 7а сбылся? Закончите предложения:

Task 7b. What would happen if these forecasts came true? Complete these sentences:

1. If the price of oil rose above $200 per barrel, many transport companies…

2. If the US government limited the use of air conditioning in public buildings…

3. If the airline industry agreed to cut carbon emissions by 50%...

4. If big oil and gas companies had to pay a special 'environment tax'…

5. If there were a number of big takeovers or mergers in the oil and gas industry…

Практическое занятие 12

Drilling for Oil and Gas

Бурение нефтегазовых скважин

drill bit буровое долото

hole/well скважина

drill string бурильная колонна

drill collar утяжелённая буровая труба

to break up разрывать, фракционировать

pump насос

pressure давление

surface поверхность

to contain содержать

to reach достигать

Задание 1. Прочитайте и переведите текст:

Task 1. Read and translate the text: