Sakhalin Energy has taken delivery of some new equipment which makes getting on and off the Lunskoye-A platform to the flotel ‘Sanko Angel’, much safer and much quicker. The company’s two other offshore platforms will also be taking delivery of similar units soon, so the crews on the Molikpaq and Piltun-Astokhskoye-B will have a shorter hop from vessel to platform too!

While Lunskoye–A is still undergoing commissioning work, around 80 people are transferred 60 metres up to the platform and back to the flotel every day. When the photograph below was taken, the weather was milder than it is now, and will be in the next few months, so that anything that can reduce crane transfer times is very welcome.

Using the new six-man ‘Frog’ has significantly reduced the time taken for personnel transfers, and cuts by half crew transfers by crane, using the old three-man ‘Frog’. The ‘Frog’ is designed, as is its predecessor, to protect passengers from the main risks of crane transfer; namely bumpy landings and falling (onto the platform deck or into water).

The design incorporates a suspension system in the base of the ‘Frog’. It also has special feet, and the two features help to cushion passengers from a heavy landing. The steel frame and plastic cladding protect the passengers against side impacts, and the seats and safety harnesses keep the passengers secure. And should the worst happen and the ‘Frog-6’ lands in the sea, the buoyancy of the equipment means it can self-right and float, if it should get immersed in water. Even for people uncomfortable with heights, the security and design of the ‘Frog’ provides for a secure and more reassuring transfer.

The larger ‘Frog’ cuts the time passengers are potentially exposed to bad weather, sea conditions and poor visibility, allowing for round the clock commissioning work to continue on Lunskoye-A. The ‘Frog’ is only used for transfer of passengers from vessel to platform during platform commissioning or construction work, or when crew changes have to occur by boat, when the weather is too bad for the normal helicopter to land.

Andrew Fendt, the Offshore Installation Manager on the Lunskoye-A is very pleased with the platform’s new acquisition: ‘It may only seem like a small thing - going from three to six seats - but it has surprised me how it has revolutionised our safety-critical daily vessel transfer operations’…