Netherlands Oil and Gas Exploration and Production Association

NEWSLETTER

IN THIS EDITION

The End of De Kooy/Den Helder Airport?

As has been known for
some time, the Dutch
Ministry of Defence
has to implement
extensive budget cuts.
According to some
reports, one of the
measures which is
being considered is
closing the military
portion of De Kooy/
Den Helder Airport.

NOGEPA is worried about the possible

economic and social impact this would have
on offshore oil and gas activities. NOGEPA
sent a letter to the Minister of Defence to
draw his attention to the consequences
of ending the military activities at De Kooy
which currently is very much interwoven
with Den Helder Airport. All offshore flights
to more than 120 fixed platforms and six to
eight mobile platforms take place from Den
Helder Airport. If the closing of De Kooy will
actually occur, employment and the regional
economy will suffer significantly. Also SAR
support from Den Helder is important as Den
Helder has on average the shortest distance
to most of the offshore installations. In case
of a calamity on the Dutch continental shelf
every minute counts.

2011 OIM Meetings

NOGEPA Communication
Campaign: Aardgas Update,
April 2011.

Loose Objects Campaign

Hoisting & Lifting

Offshore Waste

Rein Hillen

Further discussions on the defence cuts and,

specifically, on the future of the De Kooy
naval station, will take place in the coming
months. Any decision taken on this matter
could have wide-ranging consequences for
Den Helder and the offshore industry based
there.
Please click for NOGEPAs letter to the
Minister of Defence

NOGEPA, the Netherlands

Oil and Gas Exploration and
Production Association
Bezuidenhoutseweg 27-29
P.O. Box 11729
2502 AS The Hague
Phone: +31 70 3478871
Fax: +31 70 385123
E-mail: info@nogepa.nl

Netherlands Oil and Gas Exploration and Production Association

2011 OIM Meetings

Learning from
accidents; sub-zero
temperatures can
disrupt flights and
work schedules;
learning from the
Macondo accident
and more...

An important portion of the 2011 meetings

for Onshore and Offshore Installation
Managers was devoted to a thorough
analysis of an incident which occurred
when using a reciprocating saw for cutting
a condensate line. NAM has developed a
valuable training package to aid in improving
awareness of risks on the job. The training
package consists of a set of three DVDs and
instructional information. The impact of the
training package is further increased by the
people involved in the accident describing
their situation on the DVDs. They talk about
how they had planned and secured the job
and what their assumptions going into the
job were. During the course of the work, time
was spent on considering the assumptions
people had and the assumptions the OIMs
working on the training package had. This
was done by testing statements such as: At
home I work as safely as I do at work. People
who agreed with the statement were asked
to stand on one side and those who disagreed
on the other side. Interesting discussions
then arose, and it was clear that those who
participated were becoming much more
conscious of the assumptions they normally
make. The feedback from NAM was that
when such exercises are actually performed
in the field with contractors, they have a
considerable impact. Contractors start to
understand that they also need to check the
assumptions of the operators for whom they
work. We are grateful for NAM making this
training package available.

NEWSLETTER

APRIL

2011

Cees van Oosterom

Flying in icy conditions

Another interesting part of the OIM meeting
dealt with flying in icy conditions. The
limitations of flying under these circumstances
became apparent, and it was clear that when
the weather is bad, flying could come to a
stop unexpectedly during any time of the
day. One message that became clear is that
flying to satellite platforms should be limited
only to trips that are absolutely necessary
and that in such cases one should anticipate
people being stranded on the satellite for
one or more days. Thus, there should never
be more people than beds on a satellite in icy
weather conditions, and there should always
be sufficient water and food for the event
that people are stranded.
The other topics included:
What happened during the Macondo
accidents and which issues we are currently
reviewing to determine how we can further
strengthen the drilling and emergency
response aspects of our business,
Presentations and discussions led by the
Dutch State Supervision of Mines agency
concerning accidents and incidents that
occurred during 2010.
Those present enjoyed the interaction
with OIMs from other companies. There
were active discussions as well as excellent
opportunities for exchanging knowledge.
There is evidently a great deal of appreciation
for these OIM meetings which are always
held annually during the spring.
2

NEWSLETTER

Netherlands Oil and Gas Exploration and Production Association

NOGEPA Communication Campaign:

Aardgas Update, April 2011.

Theme of this
months journal:
The image of
natural gas.

This show begins with an interview with

Paul van Gelder, CEO of Gasunie. For this
interview we asked Van Gelder to emphasise
the importance of developing the image of
the gas industry through cooperation with
the green sector. He was also encouraged
to stress the direct relation between public
acceptance and the role of natural gas in
the energy mix. Hans Vijlbrief, DirectorGeneral at the Dutch Ministry of Economic
Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation, suggests
additional attention be paid to transparent
communication, as support from the
general public is essential for ensuring
natural gas place in the energy mix. Jan
Willem van Hoogstraten, General Manager
of TAQA Energy B.V., explains the role the
government plays using the example of
Bergermeer, among others. Finally, Johan
Wempe (Nyenrode Business Universiteit)
makes it clear that the green sector is a
friend and not an enemy of the industry.

APRIL

2011

Jelto Terpstra

Paul van Gelder, CEO of Gasunie

Hans Vijlbrief, Director-General at the Dutch

Ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture
and Innovation

In this journal there are also the remarkable

responses of people reacting to a question
about the relation of gas and coal, nuclear
and wind energy. These responses were all
recorded on the street with passers-by.
In addition, facts and figures are presented
about this months subject.
This edition of the journal is planned to be
posted online during second half of April.
To view the journal, please visit
www.aardgas-update.nl.

Jan Willem van Hoogstraten,

General Manager TAQA Energy B.V.

Netherlands Oil and Gas Exploration and Production Association

Loose Objects Campaign

Loose objects
Life threatening. You can avoid it!

A hammer lying around, a loose

bolt, a loose piece of rust or a
wooden peg: during transport
loose objects can be transformed
into deadly weapons. Last year
the number of loose objects that
were reported increased from
21 (in 2009) to the alarming
number of 63 (in 2010).
Because of these statistics, during
the NOGEPA Industry Day 2010 it
was decided to start a campaign to
raise awareness about the dangers
of loose objects in the entire
offshore supply chain. The ultimate
goal of this campaign is to bring
the number of loose objects down
to zero.
On 1 April 2011, a month-long
campaign will start to create
awareness among suppliers,
logistics personnel and the crews
that work on supply vessels,
platforms and drilling rigs.

NEWSLETTER

APRIL

2011

Cees van Oosterom

This safety campaign will feature a variety

of elements. Banners will be placed at the
heliport at Den Helder Airport, and when
going offshore, prior to the helicopter safety
briefing video, a few slides on loose objects
will be shown to help raise awareness. On the
offshore installations, informative posters
and placemats will be made available and
prominently displayed. Furthermore, the
Offshore Installation Managers listened to a
presentation on this issue at the NOGEPA OIM
Meetings in March. To gain active support
from the relevant suppliers, a promotional
Roadshow will also commence in April.
We will obviously need your help to make
this loose objects campaign a success and
reduce the number of reports to zero. We
would therefore like to ask you to inform
your colleagues, customers and business
partners about the campaign and help raise
awareness of the dangers and threats of
loose objects.

There is always time to do it right

Do it safely or not at all

Hoisting & Lifting

Jan Klootsema

Formal Assessment for Offshore Crane To get their certificate, the candidates
must pass both tests. The examiners are
Drivers

Rob Gessel en
Erik Bouwman

Further to the report in the December 2010

NOGEPA Newsletter on the improvement
of the quality of Offshore Crane Driver
training, an important step forward has
been made. The two training institutes in
the Netherlands, both SOMA in Harderwijk
and VTC in Barneveld,
cooperated
together
to
develop an assessment tool in
which Offshore Crane Driver
candidates can be examined.
After completing the basic
or refresher course, these
candidates can be assessed
both in terms of actual
knowledge with a theoretical
examination and in terms of
the skills they have gained
with a practical examination.

independent of the teachers providing the

training. The quality of the system is being
monitored by an accredited body and is
recognised by NOGEPA. Examinations are
required for both the basic and refresher
courses. The questions on the examination
are derived from a question bank set up by
the cooperating parties and based on the
NOGEPA Training Handbook requirements.
On 4 April 2011, the representatives of SOMA
and VTC, Rob Gessel and Erik Bouwman,
respectively, signed the examination
regulations and relevant protocol in the
office of NOGEPA (see photograph). With
this step, the competence of Offshore Crane
Drivers is better ensured, enabling them to
operate offshore cranes safely, efficiently
and more responsibly.
4

Netherlands Oil and Gas Exploration and Production Association

Offshore Waste

Providing the Dutch

Authorities with an
introduction to the
SNS Supply Boat Pool
in Den Helder

On 11 March 2011, representatives of the

State Supervision of Mines and the Dutch
National Police Services Agency (KLPD) were
received at the Blue Palace office building
on Paleiskade in Den Helder. Their host was
Loek Sakkers, Base Manager of the Peterson
SBS SNS Pool in Den Helder. The guests
were given an introduction to the logistical
processes for administering, shipping and
handling waste from offshore drilling and
production installations.
The meeting was organised at the request of
Roel van de Lint of SSM who had approached
Cees van Oosterom of NOGEPA about the
idea. Van Oosterom welcomed the idea as
Peterson SBS is well organised and capable
of handling and dealing with offshore waste
in a professional and responsible manner.
At the start of the meeting, Anko Staas,
chairman of the SNS Pool Steering
Committee, gave an overview of the SNS

NEWSLETTER

APRIL

2011

Rob van Duivenvoorde, Peterson SBS

Pool, which serves nearly all the offshore

installations on the Dutch continental shelf
using its substantial fleet of state-of-theart supply vessels. Rob van Duivenvoorde,
Deputy Director at Peterson SBS Chemicals
BV, who is responsible for the waste process,
gave a presentation on how the waste
coming from offshore locations is received,
registered and prepared for transport to
recognised waste receiving and processing
companies. Peter de Bie of Peterson SBS
provided an introduction to the logistical
processes at the supply base. After this, the
guests were given the opportunity to see
the operations at the supply base from the
roof of the Blue Palace building.
The visitors were also informed about the
initiative, begun during NOGEPA Industry
Day, to develop a uniform Waste Guide
for the offshore industry. The idea is that
through further alignment, waste processing
will become even more efficient. The goal
is to complete the Waste Guide during the
second half of 2011.
The visitors asked many questions for
clarification which were in turn satisfactorily
answered by the professional staff of
Peterson SBS and the representatives of the
oil and gas industry who were present.

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