First 2007 Meeting of the

Deepwater Infrastructure Forum (DIF)

Topic: Walk-about Drilling Rigs – Lessons Learned
Presenters:
  • E.G. “Skip” Ward, Offshore Technology Research Center – Hurricane Ivan Experience
  • Dave Knoll, Shell International Exploration and Production Co. HSE & Technical Challenges for the Mars TLP Recovery Project
  • Randy Abadie, Shell Exploration and Production Co. – Path Forward for Design of Rig Tie-downs
Location: Technip Offshore, 1-10 at Kirkwood (North side of I-10), First Floor Conference Center
Date: Tuesday, March 6, 2007.
Time:

4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.

 
Price:

$10 at the door (ASCE membership not required to attend)
Note:

Participants receive credit for 2 Professional Development Hours (PDHs)

About the Topic

Drilling rigs on floating platforms in the Gulf of Mexico moved on their foundations during recent hurricanes, including Hurricane Ivan and Hurricane Katrina.  In some cases, this movement resulted in damage to or loss of the drilling rig, as well as damage to the platform topsides.  This meeting is designed as an interactive forum to provide an overview of industry experience with drilling rig movement during Hurricanes Ivan and Katrina, to discuss the challenges of recovering from resulting damage, and to sketch the path forward towards design of improved tie-down devices for future use.

 

About the Speakers

Skip Ward is Associate Director of the Offshore Technology Research Center (OTRC), which is housed at Texas A&M University.  Skip joined OTRC following his retirement from Shell, where he worked for 30 years in various offshore research and engineering roles.  He has extensive experience working with offshore industry groups in the Gulf of Mexico.  He was Project Manager for an assessment of rig storm sea fastenings sponsored by the United States Minerals Management Service following Hurricane Ivan.

Dave Knoll is currently assigned to Shell International Exploration and Production and served as Project Manager for the Mars Recovery Project.  He began his career with Shell as field engineer in the Gulf of Mexico in 1979.  Dave’s background at Shell includes project engineering for conventional fixed platforms, design engineering for offshore arctic developments in Alaska, and leading structural engineering efforts for the Auger, Ram Powell, Ursa, and Na Kika platforms.  His latest assignment was as the design lead for the Sakhalin topsides floatover operations to be conducted offshore Russia.

Randy Abadie is employed by Shell Exploration and Production Co. in New Orleans, LA where he serves as the Offshore Structures Technical Authority for Shell EP Americas.  Prior to joining Shell in 2005, Randy spent 25 years working for W.S. Nelson Engineers and Architects in New Orleans as a structural design engineer and project manager.  During his career, he has worked on numerous offshore oil and gas projects for Shell, Exxon, Mobil, BP, Murphy and ConocoPhillips.  Besides his offshore oil and gas experience, he has designed numerous marine terminals on the Mississippi River and large expansion projects for gold and copper mines in the western United States and Indonesia.  Randy is a registered professional engineer in five states, and he was elected a Fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers in 1999.

 

About DIF

The objective of the Deepwater Infrastructure Forum is to: