The oil rig repair men

On the 23 September, Andrew Wright already had his hands full after flying out from the UK to assess damage to a client’s oil rigs in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Then came the news that a second hurricane was about to hit. “That was the most exciting time”, says the 45-year-old senior consultant with Stapleton International, who was in Houston at the time, in the direct path of the imminent storm.

“It was also pretty scary: three million people were evacuating Houston, there were traffic jams 120 miles long. We feared we couldn’t get out of the city. Then we got the advice to stay where we were because we wouldn’t be able to get anywhere anyway.”

An eerie calm descended on Houston, he says, while the shone sun brightly with no hint of what was to come, and those left hunkered down and waited.

Wright was staying in the Holiday Inn in one of the few rooms that wasn’t taken up by refugees from New Orleans, complete with all the possessions they had left, including noisy cats and dogs. He and his two Stapleton colleagues, Graeme Cole and Ian Brown, made one final dash to a supermarket: “There was nothing healthy left on the shelves, not even water. We were supposed to be these three serious businessmen preparing for a disaster situation, but we just stocked up on lemonade, crisps and doughnuts,” says Wright.

Before all this, more onerous preparation had been needed on the oil rigs. Stapleton had been hired by oil company Global Santa Fe six weeks before Hurricane Katrina struck to assist with two new drilling platforms that had faulty thrusters (engines under the platforms that ensure they stay above the drilling hole). The consultancy was advising on a potential claim against the manufacturers of the thrusters for the time and money they had cost the Houston-headquartered client.

After Katrina hit on 29 August Stapleton was given a new commission to work out how much it would cost and what would be needed to repair damage to four battered rigs. Wright was among the reinforcements from Stapleton who jetted in to Houston on 5 September. There are currently six Stapleton staff assigned to Global Santa Fe, but this could go up to 10 or 12 by Christmas.

When he arrived at Global Santa Fe’s office Wright says the mood was one of “organised chaos”. The firm’s in-house disaster recovery team was working 24 hours a day, both at the HQ and out on the rigs in the Gulf.

There was nothing healthy left on the shelves, not even water. We were supposed to be these three serious businessmen preparing for a disaster situation, but we just stocked up on lemonade, crisps and doughnuts.

Andrew Wright, senior consultant, Stapleton International

The damage to the rigs was extensive. Of the two Wright was working on, he says: “The hurricane hit them, spun them around and tangled up their mooring cables. One rig was spun round eight times, it looked like spaghetti junction underneath.”

Development Driller One (DD1) had water 22m deep inside it, which had corroded fittings and destroyed electrics. Oil and grease had also got into the rig and it was tilting at a 15-degree angle.

Helicopters and diving teams had to be mobilised to make the first damage assessments, then tugboats were needed to drag them closer to shore where they were to be worked on.

“Our first job was to assess how much damage had been done, how long it would take to sort out and what it would cost,” explains Wright. This was done by talking to engineers who had flown out to the platforms.

Once the rigs were closer to shore Stapleton’s staff visited them and began sizing up the damage in more detail. DD1 was brought into a shipyard at Corpus Christi, while its sister platform DD2, on which Wright was also working, was moored offshore. “We come up with rough estimates of the cost of the repairs, but it changes every day. Each time they open up another piece of kit we find more damage.” For example, while sea water inside one rig went up to 22m high, the water travelled up as high as 40m within electrical cables, “like capillary action”, says Wright. The latest damage estimate puts DD1 at £80m and DD2 at £20m. He expects the work to continue until March.

But the recovery plan was upset with the warning that Hurricane Rita was on the way, he says. DD1 had to be moved out of the shipyard, toed further out to sea and ballasted so it was “almost on the bottom”. Once the rigs were shored-up, most of Global Santa Fe’s staff evacuated both Corpus Christi and Houston, leaving Stapleton’s staff behind in the Holiday Inn.

The hurricane hit them, spun them around and tangled up their mooring cables. One rig looked like spaghetti junction underneath.

Andrew Wright, senior consultant, Stapleton International

In the event Hurricane Rita was less devastating than many had feared. It actually changed course a couple of degrees, meaning that Houston avoided the worst of it. “It was a bit windy but nothing too scary,” says Wright.

Since then, the pace of work has picked up. Stapleton’s team moved to Corpus Christi on 10 October.

DD1 is back in the shipyard and for DD2 a floating hotel has been hired. The “Floatel” is parked next to the rig, providing food and beds for 50 workers and saving the cost of ferrying them out from dry land daily.

Wright starts work at 7am and is allowed home to see his family in Darlington one week in every four. He is overseeing and logging the all the repair work and meets with the loss adjusters regularly. “They are keen to ensure they’re getting value for money. And it’s complicated by the thruster repair work and the fact that we are trying to make the rigs even better than they were before. The loss adjusters just want to make sure they are paying for only the damage caused by the hurricane, but we’re working on everything at once.”

Wright has the laborious task of recording all the materials, plant and hours of work spent on the different types of repair. “It’s all been challenging, but character building,” he says.