December 2006
Volume 16, Number 12
Industry fights off passport mandate for MODU workers
T
he majority of drilling contractor employees working
on the US OCS won’t have
to obtain passports to continue working there. A notice of proposed rulemaking for the Western Hemisphere
Travel Initiative (WHTI) might have
had the effect of forcing all passengers
and employees of helicopters involved
in OCS operations by January 2007 to
hold passports, but in a final rule issued
24 November in the Federal Register,
US Customs and Border Protection
(CBP) and the US State Department
set forth that offshore workers who
work aboard MODUs attached to the
US OCS and travel by air to and from
such MODUs won’t need passports if
they depart and re-enter points in the
US — including the US OCS — but do
not enter a foreign port or place.
The rule notes that offshore employees on MODUs unattached and under
way also won’t need to present passports for re-entry if they don’t enter
a foreign port or place during transit.
However, an individual who travels to
a MODU from outside the US who
hasn’t been previously admitted to
the US would be required to possess a
passport and perhaps visa when arriving at a port-of-entry by air.
Likewise, individuals who travel by
air to foreign-flagged MODUs that
haven’t been previously inspected or
admitted to the US must present a
passport or approved equivalent document (and, if required, visa) because
Middle East Leadership Briefing held in Oman
I
ADC recently held the first
Middle East Leadership Briefing in Muscat, Oman. The
meeting was hosted by Petroleum
Development Oman (PDO) and
was attended by representatives of
member companies in the region.
IADC’s two Middle East chapters
were represented.
“This gathering provided an opportunity for member leaders to hear
about the current state of the organization and to discuss ways to apply
IADC capabilities, activities and programs in this part of the world,” said
IADC vice president for the Middle
East and Asia Ken Fischer. “All in
attendance agreed that this was just
December 2006
the first step and that future meetings
should be held from time to time
around the Gulf.”
IADC’s accreditation programs,
particularly RigPass and WellCAP,
received the greatest attention and
discussion. These programs are seen
as valuable tools, especially at this
time of severe shortages of personnel. The benefits of a coordinated
approach to implementation by the
national oil companies in the region
were highlighted, and this objective
will be pursued.
For more information about IADC
activities in the Middle East, please
contact Ken Fischer at ken.fischer
@iadc.org.
DRILL BITS
they’ve traveled to what’s deemed a
foreign port or place.
IADC was part of an intensive campaign to inform agency and congressional staff of the potentially hugely
disruptive impact of the preliminary
regulatory proposal, urging them to reconsider and eliminate the requirement
for passports for OCS operations.
There remain a few unresolved issues, but in the main, the status quo for
offshore drilling employees has been
preserved, at least insofar as the aviation element of the WHTI.
For more information, contact Brian Petty at 1/202-293-0670 or brian
.petty@iadc.org or Alan Spackman at
ext 207 or alan.spackman.iadc.org.
Safety alerts issued
Alert 06–37: Slips knocked over, resulting
in LTA foot injury.
Alert 06–38: Working on exposed rotating machinery results in LTI.
Alert 06–39: Incorrect heater on traction motor results in fire.
Alert 06–40: 42-in. drive down adapter
falls to floor, resulting in a fatality.
www.iadc.org/alerts.htm
Reminder
IADC Well Control Committee meeting, 13 December, Houston. Contact
Holly Shock at ext 205.
IADC Houston Chapter luncheon &
board meeting, 16 January, Houston.
Contact Susan Ross at 1/281-233-5405.
Page 1
MMS 5-year OCS plan wins general support
IADC joined NOIA and other
upstream trade associations in
comments generally supportive
of the US Mineral Management
Service’s proposed 5-Year (20072012) OCS Leasing Program.
The associations, however, expressed disappointment that the
plan is not more ambitious: “We
reiterate our concern that the
agency is being much too conservative, only proposing to possibly
lease less than 12% of the 1.7 bil-
lion acres it manages. We urge the
agency to expand the potential
lease sale areas to include all areas
where there is an interest in hydrocarbon development. In particular,
we strongly urge the agency to include all of the area in the ‘original
sale 181 area’ rather than just the
bulge area, as well as all of the area
off the East Coast.”
For more information, contact
Brian Petty at 1/202-293-0670 or
brian.petty@iadc.org.
terests associated with offshore
activities and serve without pay or
reimbursement of expenses. Historically, the Coast Guard has had
extreme difficulty in managing the
process of appointing members to
the committee, with most members
being asked to serve well beyond
their 2-year term of appointment,
creating hardship for some.
As renewal of the charter should
have been a routine administrative
matter, it is not clear why it was allowed to lapse.
For more information, please
contact Alan Spackman at ext 207
or alan.spackman@iadc.org.
Consultants make WellCAP audit visits
A total of 4 audits were performed at Houston-area WellCAPaccredited training providers in
October and early November.
Hal Kendall, consultant to
IADC, performed the audits at
Wild Well Control, WCS Well
Control School, Diamond Offshore Drilling and Halliburton
Energy Services. All of these
providers are based in Houston.
Page 2
WELLCAP
Accreditation pending:
• Chongqing Well Control Training
Center, China (renewal);
• Instituto de Capacitacion para
la Industria Maritima y Portuaria,
Mexico (new);
• Petroleum Training & Qualifying
Institute, Libya (new);
• PEMEX-UPMP, Mexico (renewal).
Accreditation awarded:
• National Drilling & Well Control
Program UNSW, Australia (renewal).
HSE RIGPASS
NOSAC charter lapses
The US Department of Homeland Security and the US Coast
Guard have allowed the charter
of the National Offshore Safety
Advisory Committee (NOSAC)
to lapse. The committee was established to advise, consult with
and make recommendations to the
Commandant of the Coast Guard
on matters and actions concerning
activities directly involved with or
in support of exploration of offshore mineral and energy resources as they relate to matters within
Coast Guard jurisdiction.
Committee members are appointed across a broad spectrum of in-
Accreditation updates
Additional audits in Houston are
planned, as are audits with providers in Midland, Texas, and Bakersfield, Calif.
IADC has an ongoing need for
qualified individuals to perform
training audits with accredited
providers at locations around the
world. For more information,
please contact Steve Kropla at ext
211 or steve.kropla@iadc.org.
DRILL BITS
Accreditation pending:
• Instituto de Capacitacion para la
Industria Maritima y Portuaria,
Mexico (new).
Industry personnel
not part of ‘riding gang’
The Coast Guard Maritime Transportation Act of 2006, published mid-year, included new provisions that placed onerous
requirements and limitations on the use of
“riding gangs” on US-flagged vessels. IADC
was concerned that industry personnel on
MODUs could fall within the act’s definition of “riding gang” and sought further
clarification from the USCG. The USCG
has recently confirmed that this term does
not include the normal complement of
industry personnel on either an industrial
vessel or a MODU. For more information,
please contact John Pertgen at ext 203 or
john.pertgen@iadc.org.
SAPC Golf Tournament
The IADC Southern Arabian Peninsula Chapter Annual Golf Tournament will be held 14-15 December at
the Emirates Golf Club. Contact Gordon McGeachy, +971/4-8811995.
December 2006
Task group completes
guidelines for collecting,
giving environmental data
The IADC Health, Safety and Environment Committee Task Group has
established guidelines for collecting
environmental data and providing it to
operators and other entities. Use of the
guidelines is voluntary, and IADC does
not plan to establish an environmental
reporting database as the HSE Committee already oversees the well-known
ASP Safety Data program.
The
Environmental
Reporting
Guidelines are posted on the HSE
resources web page at www.iadc.org/
committees/hse/resources.htm. For
more details, contact Joe Hurt at ext
224 or joe.hurt@iadc.org.
Offshore Operators
Committee to meet
Offshore Operators Committee
members are invited to a general membership meeting at 8 am on 6 December at the Hilton-New Orleans Airport
Hotel in Kenner, La.
For more information, please contact Pam Young at 1/501-561-2598 or
1/504-934-2159.
Redesigned IADC Drilling
Manual available soon
IADC’s Drilling Manual, the industry’s benchmark for drilling information has received a facelift. All charts
and graphs have been redesigned to
ensure maximum clarity, new photographs and schematics have been added, and text has been reformatted to be
easier to read.
Both hard-copy and CD-ROM versions will be available in January. For
more information, contact IADC Publications at ext 215.
December 2006
EU Working Time Directive review falters
Once again, the presidency of the
EU, currently Finland, has failed to
resolve the impasse over legislation
modifying the EU framework directive on working times.
At issue is the UK’s insistence on
an “opt-out” for workers choosing
to work longer hours for extra pay.
The UK is supported by Germany,
the Baltic nations and others but is
strongly opposed by France, Spain
and Italy because they claim it gives
the UK a competitive advantage and
exploits workers.
Finland proposed a gradual phaseout as a compromise, but that proved
unacceptable to both sides. For offshore work, the situation leaves
unresolved the question of what’s
considered “on call” time following ambiguous decisions of the European Court of Justice (ECJ). The
offshore E&P industry continues to
support the 12-month reference period, which has been challenged chiefly
by the continental trade unions.
Member states are also at odds about
the maximum length of the work
week, with some proposing 65 hours
and others 60 or 48 hours. It appears
that the next EU presidency under
Germany will be left to seek some
resolution of these issues as pressure
builds on all European industry to
comply with the ECJ decisions that
will likely have a dramatic disruptive
impact on working patterns.
Most member states agree the ECJ
decisions must be reversed or clarified
in legislation, but the opt-out dispute
continues to cloud the outlook for a
comprehensive solution.
For more information, contact Brian Petty at 1/202-293-0670 or brian
.petty@iadc.org.
Rigs receive
ASP certificates:
Rig Noble David Tinsley (5);
Noble Mexico:
Rigs Noble Lewis Dugger/235 (10),
Sam Noble/210 (10);
Precision Drilling International:
Rigs 146 (2), 147 (1), 180 (5), 710
(2), 779 (2);
Pride International:
Rigs Alligator (1), Pride Afria (5).
For certificates received since last
LTI (in years):
ENSCO Offshore Co:
Rig ENSCO 87 (3);
KCA DEUTAG Drilling:
Rig T-45 (3);
KCA DEUTAG Nigeria:
Rig T-26A (2);
Kuwait Drilling Co:
Rig 16 (3);
Nabors Offshore Corp:
Rig Nabors 85 (2);
National Drilling & Services Co:
Rig 32 (2);
Noble Drilling:
Rig Noble Dick Favor 212 (4);
Noble Drilling Middle East
& India:
DRILL BITS
For certificates received since last
recordable incident (in years):
Grey Wolf Drilling:
Rig 521 (5);
Precision Drilling International:
Rigs 144 (3), 147 (1), 157 (3), 158
(1), 172 (1), 737 (1), 776 (1), PDI
Venezuela Support Services (1);
Noble Mexico:
Rigs Noble Eddie Paul/354 (3),
Gene Rosser (8).
Page 3
UK stays cautious on licence extensions
T
he UK Department of Trade
and Industry’s Head of Exploration has written to assure IADC that its concerns about
possible offshore licence extensions
were fully considered after “DTI was
requested by UKOOA (and others) to
consider what would happen to outstanding Licence Obligations in light
of the perceived rig market.”
IADC wrote to DTI in May urging
caution when approached by operators to grant extensions for work programmes on the basis of lack of rig
availability. DTI’s Simon Toole has
directed that requests from holders of
licences from the 21st Round with initial terms expiring September 2007 will
be subject to the following limits:
“For 21st Round licences we will consider a short extension where a Licensee
I
can show that it has made the best possible progress during the Initial Term
and is ready to complete the Work Programme (meaning, among other things,
that it has a firm drilling contract with a
recognised contractor).
“We would not consider, for example,
an extension where completion of the
Work Programme has been prevented
by the Licensee’s unwillingness to pay
the current market rig rates or by any
need to conclude commercial arrangements such as the raising of funds or
concluding farm out arrangements.
DTI will make individual decisions in
light of all relevant circumstances and
factors.”
For more information, please contact
Brian Petty at 1/202-293-0670 or brian
.petty@iadc.org.
2007 SPE/IADC Drilling Conference
to ‘Reach Out to Discover and Recover’
t’s time to register for the 2007
SPE/IADC Drilling Conference,
to be held at the RAI Congress
Centre in Amsterdam on 20-22 February 2007. This year’s theme is “Reach
Out to Discover and Recover.”
Topics of the more than 100 papers
to be presented will cover downhole
drilling technology, drilling optimiza-
tion, well planning and ERD, deepwater drilling, bit technology, tubulars,
HSE, MPD, cementing, completions
and more. The 2007 conference chairman is Sjoerd Brouwer of Shell.
Conference registration and hotel
reservations can be completed online.
For more information, please go to
www.spe.org.
Issued monthly by the International Association of Drilling Contractors
Global Leadership for the Drilling Industry
Claus Chur, Chairman
Robert L Long,Vice Chairman
John Lindsay, Secretary-Treasurer
Lee Hunt, President
Linda Hsieh, Editor
PO Box 4287, Houston,TX 77210-4287 USA. 1+713 292 1945 for all extensions listed;
fax, 1+713 292 1946; info@iadc.org.
Page 4
DRILL BITS
IADC welcomes
7 new members
• DHS Drilling Co, Casper, Wyo.;
• HR Stasney & Sons Ltd, Albany,
Texas;
• Kaler Oil Co, Gainesville, Texas;
• Moduspec Engineering (International) BV, Serooskerke (W)
Zeeland, The Netherlands;
• Patriot Exploration Drilling,
Stahlstown, Pa.;
• Valesco Energy Ventures Ltd,
Calgary, Alberta, Canada;
• Viking Life-Savings Equipment
(Americas), Taylor Lake Village,
Texas.
New DC website launched
Drilling Contractor recently
launched a newly redesigned website at www.drillingcontractor.org.
IADC members can find the most
current issue and recent back issues
of the magazine, a media kit with
editorial and advertising information, and web-exclusive content.
Log on now to view video footage
of IADC members receiving Exemplary Service Awards at the 2006
Annual Meeting, held 21-22 September in San Antonio, Texas.
Members can also use the website
to subscribe to the magazine and to
find information about the IADC
Membership Directory.
HSE&T conference
to convene in February
Mark your calendars for the 2007
IADC Health, Safety, Environment
and Training Conference & Exhibition. It will be held 6-7 February at
the Omni Houston Hotel Westside
in Houston. The event will review
the industry’s HSE and training
challenges and initiatives. For a
complete list of 2007 conferences, go to www.iadc.org or contact
Leesa Teel at ext 210 (leesa.teel
@iadc.org).
December 2006