White Rose Field Re-Starts!

Husky is preparing to move ahead with remediation and production restart activities at the White Rose Field, offshore Newfoundland and Labrador.

The Husky Energy plan to recover the flowline connector and plug the flowline at the South White Rose Extension has been accepted by the C-NLOPB and other federal agencies, who were engaged by the C-NLOPB for their expertise. The C-NLOPB has now issued an Operational Authorization to carry out this activity.   This work is a priority for Husky and the regulator and is important to restoring integrity to the SWRX flowline area and reducing the potential for environmental impact. Husky Energy intends to carry out these activities at the earliest opportunity.

Husky Energy has worked closely with the C-NLOPB and regulatory agencies including Canadian Coast Guard, Environment and Climate Change Canada and the Canadian Wildlife Service to complete detailed planning, and are confident the necessary equipment, expertise and mitigations are in place to carry out the work safely and in an environmentally responsible manner.  These include design, fabrication and testing of plugs to mechanically seal the ends of the flowline, development of a recovery process and procedure, risk assessments, tabletop exercises, and development of a wildlife response plan.

A project-specific spill response plan has been designed to ensure that we can manage any potential volume of residual oil.

The plan incorporates mitigations including:

• Pre-deployment of spill response equipment
• On-site representation and direction from spill response contractor Eastern Canada Response Corporation (ECRC)
• Aerial surveillance
• Work with potential environmental impact restricted to daylight hours
• Wildlife observation plan includes “hold” points in the event of marine mammals or large numbers of seabirds in the immediate area
• Dedicated wildlife observers on two vessels

In addition, all Husky-contracted vessels supporting the response are equipped with Rutter’s Sigma 6 spill detector radar.

The recovery and plugging operation is weather sensitive and will require a 48-hour window with specific requirements around sea states and visibility. These conditions may take some time to present, and we don’t have an immediate weather window for this work.

Leak testing of Central Drill Centre

Husky Energy has worked diligently with certifying authority to ensure the SeaRose FPSO and associated equipment is ready to safely operate the Central Drill Centre (CDC). They have been in constant communication with the C-NLOPB with our progress and they are satisfied with the plans and approach.

The Central Drill Centre (CDC) is isolated from other production flowlines and drill centres at the White Rose field.  The flowlines have been displaced with seawater and flowline integrity proven by leak testing. These results have been verified with our certifying authority, DNV-GL, and shared with the C-NLOPB. The restart sequence will begin with hot-oiling which involves taking hydrocarbons from on board the SeaRose and circulating them through the CDC flowlines to warm up the lines. This procedure has been verified by Husky’s certifying authority.

Once flowlines reach the required temperature, Husky will bring the first production well online. This well will take several days to ramp up and stabilize at normal flow rates. Additional wells will be brought online in a planned sequence.

In support of this activity, inspections were previously completed and verified on the SeaRose hull, topsides and mooring system.  They have completed additional risk assessments, reviewed start-up procedures, updated our adverse weather guidelines and completed a Pre-Start Up Safety Review (PSSR).

Husky is committed to taking the time to bring the field on safely and in accordance with our values of operating safely and protecting the environment.

SOURCE & GRAPHICS: Husky Energy