Clear Leader Drive Off??

[CaptTomH]

I heard a rumor that the Discoverer Clear Leader had a drive off a couple of days after the Deepwater Horizon disaster. Supposedly ,they had a problem with their DGPS and had a drive off and pulled a wellhead over .
Has anyone heard anything about this ?

[Prius]

I know they had a fire recently:

Last September, for instance, a fire broke out on a brand-new Transocean rig, the Discoverer Clear Leader. It knocked out power to the thrusters that keep the rig in position above the well—a serious situation, because if a rig drifts too far it can disconnect from the well and cause a spill. Power was restored in time.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...807539054.html

[Capt. Lee]

I heard a rumor that the Discoverer Clear Leader had a drive off a couple of days after the Deepwater Horizon disaster. Supposedly ,they had a problem with their DGPS and had a drive off and pulled a wellhead over .
Has anyone heard anything about this ?

I heard they had a drive off. Their set up is two GPS's and a HiPAP. Their median setting was warning and reject. When both GPS's took a walk in the same direction the system recognized the one good reference system (HiPAP) as the bad one and rejected it. If their median had been set up as warning only, which is the recommended setting during latched up drilling conditions, perhaps they would not have driven off. The same night we had GPS problems for about 20 minutes. We maintained position and the GPS's were rejected. I do not have any factual information about the Clear Leader, but this is what I "think" happened.

[Shellback]

Is this the 5% of sheer terror that you DP guys refer too?

[Jolly Tar]

Forgive the tugboat guy...

What's a drive off?

[Capt. Lee]

Is this the 5% of sheer terror that you DP guys refer too?

I was a little nervous when it happened. I could see what was happening, but pretty much helpless to do anything other than wait for the GPS's to come back in. Our HiPAP is very reliable and held fine. It just is not a warm fuzzy to be latched up with only one reference. You should have seen the look on the other DPO's face. He wanted to push a button or do something so bad. I almost had to physically restrain him.

[Capt. Lee]

Forgive the tugboat guy...

What's a drive off?

When a vessel is on DP and supposed to stay in a certain position on DP, sometimes for different reasons it drifts off or powers off that location. This is called a drive off. Not a big deal on a vessel that is not attached to the sea bed, but if you are drilling and connected to the bottom with a a 300-500 disconnect circle, it can get ugly and expensive real quick. We have well specific operating guidelines that tell you what to do in certain situations and who to call. Disconnect can take over a minute if done in time it can prevent added damage, but either way it is a huge deal. I have limited drilling experience and have not personally experienced a drive off, but I an tell you I hope my career is spared of this type of incident.

[Shellback]

I was a little nervous when it happened. I could see what was happening, but pretty much helpless to do anything other than wait for the GPS's to come back in. Our HiPAP is very reliable and held fine. It just is not a warm fuzzy to be latched up with only one reference. You should have seen the look on the other DPO's face. He wanted to push a button or do something so bad. I almost had to physically restrain him.

Hah! I 'll bet you did..Thanks for the explanation....Good to see you around here BTW

Jolly tar..love the new avatar...

[bnhpr]

Wonder if they will get rig of the year again?

I love the saying..........A man with 2 watches never knows what time it is.

I liked the roominess of the ship, was aghast when I saw the siplink cabinets, agp crap etc. Embarrasing.

No engineers.....