More detailsIce forces evacuation of two offshore rigs near Nova Scotia's Sable Island
MICHAEL TUTTON
HALIFAX (CP) - A small fleet of offshore tugs and icebreakers set off Monday to shatter and divert a heaving field of metre-thick ice that threatens two large offshore natural gas rigs.
By evening, about 100 people had been evacuated from the platforms about 290 kilometres southeast of Halifax, as a northerly wind blew the ice from off Cape Breton toward the rigs. The evacuations were described as precautionary because the 25-kilometre long stretch of sea ice - which looks from the air like a massive field of rounded ice cubes packed together - could damage the legs of both rigs.
Officials with ExxonMobil Canada Ltd., owner of the Venture natural gas production platform, and Canadian Superior, operator of the Rowan Gorilla V exploration drill rig, said the facilities would be left empty until the ice leaves the area.
Mike Coolen, vice-president of Canadian Superior, said the oil rig's three triangular-shaped steel legs have been designed to withstand some thinner ice floes, and he doesn't believe the rig - owned by Rowan Companies Ltd. - will be knocked over.
"But I'm not going to find out," he added. "There's waves that can pick up little pieces of ice and throw them into the rig. So we're not going to let any ice get that close to find out."
By 3 p.m. on Monday, he had ordered all 75 staff from the Rowan Gorilla V ashore, suspended its Mariner natural gas exploration program, lifted its drill from the ocean and secured the well with concrete plugs.
The last staff from the Rowan Gorilla arrived back in Halifax late in the afternoon. "It was a well-thought-out plan to get us off there the way they did, and not take any chances," said Dana Hatfield, a medic, as he departed the heliport.
Meanwhile, Canadian Superior had hired six offshore tugs and the Canadian Coast Guard had dispatched its vessel Terry Fox to the area to battle any ice floes that approached the abandoned structures.
ExxonMobil had also hired three offshore tugs to divert ice around its offshore platform.
Coolen said some of the vessels his company has hired will use their rear propellers to create small waves that will push the ice away from the rigs. They will also use powerful water cannons.
Ian Jordaan, an expert in ice hazards at Memorial University in St. John's, Nfld., said it's wise to avoid having the ice touch the structures' legs.
"As engineers we don't mind testing our rig designs on ice, but if we're uncertain we tend to play the precautionary principle a little bit," he said.
A spokesman for the Canadian Ice Centre predicted the ice field would arrive at the rigs by early Tuesday morning, depending on whether winds of about 30 to 40 kilometres per hour continue.
John Falkingham, chief forecaster at the Ottawa-based ice centre, also said there's a small chance the field will miss the rigs.
"But erring on the side of precaution it's best to take people off now," he added.
Alan Jeffers, spokesman for ExxonMobil, said his company doesn't expect the ice will damage the Venture platform, which had a crew of 23 people aboard before the evacuation.
"When they were doing the design work for the project they envisioned this happening once in every 50 years. . . . The design is for worse (ice) than this," said Jeffers.
The Venture platform is the northernmost of the project's four facilities, which also includes the North Triumph, Thebaud and Alma platforms.
The evacuation means Canadian Superior, a Calgary-based junior exploration company, will face delays and added expenses in its drilling program for natural gas.
"That's part of the exploration business," said Coolen. "It's quite a high-priced, costly business. In addition, we have various insurances we'll be notifying and hopefully that will help a bit there, too."
A Canadian Superior news release predicted it could be seven days before operations return to normal.
It's rare to have ice reach Sable Island. The Canadian Ice Centre said it's the first time in a decade the floes have reached that far to the east.