A strong commitment despite hard conditions

A unique offshore assignment called for a Major and Complex team to the North Sea. On different platforms, located hours away from land, Polygon performed restoration after a fire had broken out. Due to the special circumstances of working offshore, the team effort was truly essential.

Some time ago Polygon was called to Ekofisk, a Norwegian oil field located in the southernmost part of the Norwegian sector in the North Sea. A fire had broken out in a UPS panel and, as a result of that, two production platforms were put out of operation, with an operating loss of 20-25 million NOK per day. Ståle Karlsen, Region Leader at Polygon Norway, explains further.

“We were called in on the fifth of December, and I had my first meeting the morning after at ConocoPhillips' headquarters in Stavanger. Two days later we were 21 men in place on Ekofisk. We worked 24 hours a day with two shifts and finished on the 16th of December, well in accordance with the progress plan.”

Polygon performed the renovation of the building in the Emergency Board room and adjoining rooms. All circuit boards, UPS equipment, MCC trays and PA amplifiers were dismantled and cleaned, as well as all the electric cabinets (40 pcs).

The environment to work in was quite special, since Ekofisk consists of one main platform and several oil and gas production platforms, which are assembled with walkways. There was approximately one kilometer from the main platform to the injury site.

In terms of logistics, the assignment was special as well. All of the equipment and consumption had to be transported by boat from Stavanger. The boat went once a day and the route took 12-18 hours depending on the weather. All the men got out to the platform by helicopter. ConocoPhillips, the operators of Ekofisk, ordered a special helicopter just for the employees of Polygon.

Despite the extreme conditions, Karlsen was pleased.

“Working at Ekofisk was an experience for all our employees. We were all well taken care of by the customer. They made everything easy for us, so we only needed to concentrate on work. The tough circumstances produced a great team spirit.”

The oil production is once again started and the client is content.