Offshore/subsea systems

No Injuries Reported in West Mira Incident

Subsea production equipment falls to seafloor after winch wire malfunction.

West Mira semisubmersible.
West Mira semisubmersible.

An equipment failure onboard Northern Ocean semisubmersible West Mira resulted in production equipment descending to the seabed. The rig owner said no one was injured and the well at the location was secured “with three barriers in place.” The unit was in the process of lowering the equipment on the Wintershall-operated Nova field.

“While lowering a x-mas tree from West Mira, the winch wire snapped when the tree was five meters below the sea surface. The x-mas tree sunk to the seafloor 368 meters below water level. Eight people were working in the area of the rig where the incident occurred in safe distance from moving equipment,” said Wintershall.

The rig manager, Seadrill Europe Management AS, and Wintershall are conducting investigations into the incident and have agreed to a plan to secure the production equipment.

“A remote operated vehicle (ROV) was sent to the seafloor to assess the situation,” added the oil company. “The ROV survey showed no risk of discharge of well fluids or hydrocarbons and the x-mas tree has been localized on the template.”