Title: Shell- Storm safe in Malaysia's deep water - from YouTube
Duration: 9:33 minutes
Description:
Anchoring Shell’s Deep-Water Oil Platform in the South China Sea
The highly-skilled Shell mooring team anchors a deep-water oil platform to mooring lines on the sea
bed using a high-tech ROV submersible and cranes located on the platform. The operation requires
high-tech equipment and a highly skilled team in order to make the platform safe from tropical storms.
Shell- Storm safe in Malaysia's deep water - from YouTube Transcript
[Background music plays]
Tense, suspenseful, bass-heavy music.
[Video footage]
Shell workers on the deep water platform at night. Crane moving. Cut to Paal Dinnesen in front of four
monitors displaying underwater video.
[Paal Dinnesen]
Okay, come down a little bit more.
[Video footage]
Workers on the platform at night standing by a crane raising a mooring line from the water surface.
[Text displays]
Paal Dinnesen. Shift supervisor.
[Narration]
In the South China Sea, 120 km from land, former Norwegian Navy Diver Paal Dinnesen and his
colleagues are anchoring a floating oil platform to the seabed.
[Video footage]
Workers on platform handling a large chain. Wide shot of oil platform at night with bright lights
causing lens flares. Cut to Paal Dinnesen in his office with four monitors displaying various pages.
[Paal Dinnesen]
Shift Supervisor
[Paal Dinnesen]
The consequences of making a mistake are drastic.
[Background music plays]
Rock guitar music.
[Video footage]
1
Wide shot footage of oil platform with ships surrounding it. Time lapse video of platform with sun just
overhead. Shot showing various pipes and valves on the platform. Underwater footage of crane
hooking onto undersea mooring line. Video of ROV submersible moving robotic arm towards mooring
line. Workers on platform next to a large chain. Shot of platform with text “FPS Gunusut-Kakap” in big
red letters on a yellow sign. Shot of lower half of oil platform. Workers handling a chain. Shot of oil
platform lit up in the distance with blinking lamp in foreground. Helicopter shot of oil platform
surrounded by ships. Shot of worker wearing welder mask cutting through a piece of chain with a
circular saw. Workers on the platform grabbing small chains hanging near a pillar.
[Narration]
In a joint venture between Shell and Petronas, it will tap into 19 pre-drilled deep water oil wells with a
production capacity of 150,000 barrels of oil each day. Right now, the platform is hooked up to three
mooring lines, and held in position by huge tugs.
[Video footage]
Close-up of two large chains coming out of the water, followed by separate shots of three tugboats.
Wide shot of platform with tugs pulling in opposite directions from the oil platform. Time lapse footage
of platform with crane moving on top.
[Narration]
But until the fourth line is attached, the platform is vulnerable to storms.
[Video footage]
Red wind sock billowing in the wind. Workers on the deck near a large chain being lowered to the deck.
Paul Dinnesen by monitors.
[Paal Dinnesen]
When that fourth line is on, the platform is actually storm-safe. Everybody relaxes a bit.
[Video footage]
Worker lowering his head. Workers on deck attaching chain to a hook while one signals up to crane
operator. Night view of platform with lit lights. Two wide shots of platform during the day.
[Background music plays]
Happy xylophone music.
[Video footage]
Construction vessel in the ocean, large boat with cranes on it. Rotating machinery with black grease
around it. Cable moving through a pulley. ROV being lifted from the water by crane on the ship. Time
lapse of crane moving towards the camera. Crane hook being lifted.
[Narration]
From construction vessel the Sapura 3000, Paal’s team will use remotely-operated vehicles, or ROVs, to
find the fourth mooring line on the sea floor. They’ll haul it towards the surface with heavy-duty
cranes.
[Paal Dinnesen]
Okay, you want to grab it and give it a shock.
2
[Video footage]
Paal in front of nine monitors displaying video footage and various other data. Narrow shot of Paal
working.
[Narration]
It’s Paal’s job to ensure the operation runs smoothly.
[Video footage]
Paal speaking to camera. Paal speaking into radio.
[Paal Dinneson]
I’m a coordinator, you might say. Four meters aft and four meters upward of the sheet. Cheers, bro.
[Narration]
Before Paal dispatches the ROV…
[Video footage]
Footage of cameras on ROV rotating while on the platform. Kim Lendrum inspecting the ROV. Robotic
arm of ROV being tested outside the water.
[Kim Lendrum]
Okay, you’re happy with your cameras?
[Narration]
Supervisor Kim Lendrum tests its high-tech robotics.
[Kim Lendrum]
Roger thrusters. Retracting the rig master. Opening the jaws. That’s good. Closing the jaws. Roger.
[Text displays]
Kim Lendrum. ROV Technical supervisor.
[Video footage]
Kim Lendrum speaking to camera next to ROV. Robotic arm moving around. Footage of ROV on
platform with workers around. Footage of ROV underwater next to mooring line.
[Kim Lendrum]
This T4 arm we’ve named “The Beast” because it is so powerful and it does so many wonderful things
for us down below.
[Narration]
At a cost of USD $6 million, the ROV can withstand extreme conditions.
[Kim Lendrum]
Well, these ROVs are depth-rated to 3,000 meters, so there’s some pressure there as well as very low
temperatures, and that’s what they liked. They always say that a happy ROV is a wet ROV.
[Background music plays]
3
Intense, suspenseful music.
[Video footage]
ROV being lowered into water from construction ship. Spinning cable mechanism. Water breaking and
bubbling. ROV being lowered in.
[Narration]
The ROV begins a descent that will take 22 minutes. The seabed is 1,200 meters deep.
[Video footage]
Paal Dinnesen speaking to camera. Submersible disappearing under water surface. Man staring at
computer screen intently.
[Paal Dinnesen]
Before it was just mind-bogglingly out of our reach, and of course the engineering and the technical
competency is getting better and better, so we’re actually managing to go to those places we never
could before.
[Video footage]
Bright lights underwater. Monitors displaying footage and data. Kim monitoring monitors. Kim’s hand
moving a joystick with console in the background.
[Narration]
The mooring line that they’re looking for has been lying on the seabed for two years. Kim takes up the
ROV controls while Paal directs from the bridge.
[Video footage]
Paal speaking into microphone in front of monitors.
[Paal Dinnesen]
Slow down to 0.15.
[Video footage]
Kim Lendrum operating joystick. Underwater footage with debris floating by camera.
[Kim Lendrum]
Do you see the buoy? Have you got a visual there, Paal?
[Paal Dinnesen]
Negative. Two meters left.
[Kim Lendrum]
I can see nothing.
[Video footage]
Kim Lendrum speaking to camera in profile.
[Kim Lendrum]
4
When the ROVs are thrusting around down there, you kick up a lot of the seabed and that obviously
disturbs your visibility, which makes it a little bit more of a challenge trying to hook things up and
locate their positions.
[Video footage]
Kim operating ROV controls. Underwater footage of bright lights. Kim speaking to camera while facing
monitors. Paal Dinnesen speaking into microphone. Alternating shots of Paul and Kim speaking to each
other via radio while looking at monitors. Underwater footage of view from ROV cameras.
[Narration]
Kim gets the ROV to hover mid-sea while they wait for the silt to clear.
[Kim Lendrum]
You can’t really see, you know, and the shift supervisor wants everything done as soon as.
[Paal Dinnesen]
We’ve only got about, what, 45 minutes or something.
[Kim Lendrum]
He’s just got to wait for us to get out visibility and then we can move and do things properly.
[Narration]
Kim searches for a buoy that marks the end of the 2 km line.
[Paal Dinnesen]
Is that one coming into view there?
[Kim Lendrum]
Yes, I think I see the chain there, Paal.
[Narration]
The mooring line looms into view.
[Video footage]
Paul Dinnesen at his desk using a small green chain to explain how the crane hooks onto the mooring
line. He points to two chain links which are two links apart, then says the hook will come and hook into
the link between them.
[Paal Dinnesen]
What we do is we go down with a crane with a spreader bar on, and we hook into a link here and a link
here. Then we take up and hold the link like this from the end, and then we come down with our
special-built hook that comes in underneath, and then we link up this, and then it’s hanging here.
Then, we take the crane up.
[Background music plays]
Rock guitar and drums.
[Video footage]
5
Underwater footage. Kim’s hand on joystick. Monitor displaying video from underwater. Footage of
crane, hook lowering into water. Workers looking on from platform. Paal looking at monitors. Monitors
go blank.
[Narration]
A crane lowers the hook that will winch the line to the surface.
[Paal Dinnesen]
Full stop.
[Background music plays]
Suspenseful, bass-heavy music plays.
[Paal Dinnesen]
Full stop.
[Narration]
There’s a communication problem with the ROV.
[Video footage]
Two monitors displaying text “Waiting for network.” Man standing with hands on hips. ROV cable
protruding from sea surface. Worker operating computer console. Workers operating various consoles.
Paal in his chair speaking directly to camera.
[Paal Dinnesen]
They just lost total communication. I mean, they lost telephonics, power, cameras, feeds, everything.
Ping.
[Video footage]
Various shots of workers looking frustrated. Wide shot of construction ship with crane connected to
submerged ROV. Underwater shot with swimming fish and ROV. ROV emerging from water. Wide shot
of platform and tugboats from sea surface. Paal Dinnesen speaking to camera.
[Narration]
The whole operation grinds to a halt. Until the problem is fixed, nothing can happen. The only thing to
do is to bring the ROV up and fix it. In an operation this big, delay becomes costly.
[Paal Dinnesen]
Is it $500 or maybe $1,000 a minute? I’m not sure, but it’s 24/7. It’s a lot of money.
[Video footage]
Worker removing a grate from ROV. Worker repairing ROV interior. Kim Lendrum working on ROV.
[Kim Lendrum]
We just lost telemetry, lost power on it, so it turned out to be the SIM module.
[Narration]
They replace a cable they think caused the problem.
6
[Kim Lendrum]
We can do a telemetry test. Fire it up.
[Video footage]
Shot of half-moon in evening sky. Worker looking at ROV. Robotic arm moving around.
[Narration]
They check to see whether the repair has worked.
[Unidentified male speaker]
Function testing the T4. Yes. She’s alive.
[Video footage]
Time lapse of lit rig with tug boats in the evening. Paal looking at monitors. Underwater shot of chain
being lifted from floor. Paal speaking to camera. Aerial shot of rig at night with bright lights. Paal
looking at monitors.
[Narration]
After an hour’s delay, Paal gets his underwater eyes back and begins the complex business of hooking
onto the mooring line below.
[Paal Dinnesen]
Okay, just for info, that’s us picking up the line.
[Narration]
Paal uses the position of the boat.
[Paal Dinnesen]
Starboard 2 meters please.
[Unidentified male speaker]
2 meters starboard.
[Video footage]
Crane moving on ship with platform in the background at night. Underwater crane hook. Monitors
showing video from underwater. Hand on joystick. ROV claw gripping a cable underwater.
[Narration]
The cranes…
[Paal Dinnesen]
Come down 1 meter on the crane, easy, easy.
[Narration]
And the ROVs to conduct this millimeter-perfect operation over a kilometer under the surface.
[Paal Dinnesen]
Okay, Rudy, come up four meters.
7
[Rudy]
Four meters.
[Paul Dinnesen]
There’s actually a time delay because of the water depth, so when you do move it, it’s a couple of
minutes later that things move on the seabed. Okay, Rudy, bring it in a bit faster.
[Narrator]
Paal tries to manoeuvre the giant hook under the chain, but there’s a hitch.
[Video footage]
Hook moving towards chain. Close-up of big rusty chain covered in sand. Paal in front of monitors.
Footage of hook connected to chain. Kim watching monitors and speaking to camera. Footage of hook
being manoeuvred into place.
[Paal Dinnesen]
I think it’s wrong. I has to be rotated 180.
[Kim Lendrum]
Yes, currently the hook is 180 degrees out, so we have to reorientate it, and then when everything’s
lined up they’ll come up on the wire and the hook will land in its position on the specific link that it has
to be on.
[Background music plays]
Upbeat bongo drum music.
[Paal Dinnesen]
Down, down, down, stop, Rudy. Keep going to your left there please, Paul. A little bit left.
[Kim Lendrum]
That’s good.
[Paal Dinnesen]
Keep going up, Rudy. Keep going up. Keep going up. Keep going up. Stop. Okay, we got it. Brilliant. Well
done.
[Kim Lendrum]
There we go.
[Paal Dinnesen]
She’s all yours. Chop, chop.
[Video footage]
Hook latching into chain and pulling up. Kim at his monitors. Video of chain being lifted from seabed.
[Kim Lendrum]
There we go. We can see it coming up.
8
[Narrator]
The 150 ton mooring line takes two hours to reach the surface.
[Background music plays]
Hip-hop beat plays.
[Video footage]
Crane lifting cable from water. Crane hook in mid-air. Workers stowing chain. Wide shot of platform lit
up at night. Paal Dinnesen speaking to camera. Cranes moving in space between Sapura and platform.
[Narration]
Each link weighs 160 kilos. The crew temporarily stow it on the Sapura. They need to join it to a short
chain that’s attached to the platform, but while they transfer the platform’s chain onto the Sapura, the
two vessels will have to work very close together.
[Paal Dinnesen]
We have to actually go up to 10 to 15 meters away when we transfer, and she is moving, and we will
be moving, and our cranes are moving, and the wires are moving, so that’s quite tricky, and quite
exciting.
[Background music plays]
Touching piano music.
[Video footage]
Workers lowering chain onto Sapura. Worker looking focused. Workers connecting small platform
chain to large mooring line chain. Shot of platform next to construction ship Sapura.
[Narration]
As the platform’s chain is lowered onto the Sapura, the operation enters its most dangerous phase.
The chain temporarily connects the two vessels, and while it does, Paal must ensure the vessels don’t
drift apart. Paal looking at monitors.
[Paal Dinnesen]
On the bridge, can you come three meters starboard, please?
[Unidentified male speaker]
Roger, three meters starboard.
[Video footage]
Crew joining platform chain to mooring line. Crew welding near big chain. Shots of platform and Sapura
and of crew connecting the two chains.
[Narration]
The crew race to join the platform’s chain to the mooring line.
[Paal Dinnesen]
9
If they move, which they are, we have to try and follow them. If we don’t follow them, of course the
tension will become so strong it will rip the platform off, and then it could be very serious.
[Narration]
Paal manages to maintain the correct position, and the crew finish joining the chains.
[Background music plays]
Pleasant guitar and drum music plays.
[Video footage]
Connected chains being lifted up to platform. Paal Dinnesen looking pleased. Crew smiling for camera
and giving thumbs up.
[Paal Dinnesen]
Oh, that was brilliant. What a life. What a team.
[Video footage]
Time lapse of Sapura at night with lights on and platform at dawn with lights off. Worker releasing
mooring line on deck of Sapura. Mooring line slowly sinking into ocean. Footage of platform with
tugboats.
[Narration]
As dawn breaks, the Sapura releases the fourth mooring line. It’s now attached to the platform.
Though there’s more work to do before the platform will see first oil, she is storm-safe.
[Graphic]
Shell logo. Text reads “© Shell International 2013”
10