Abstract
The Auger facility was designed, built and installed by Shell, with first oil production on April 15, 1994. It was the first Tension Leg Platform in the Gulf of Mexico, first to support drilling rig, complete production facilities, and world record setting water depth at the time. Auger has continued its strategic role in Shell's Gulf of Mexico portfolio since then with 7 subsea satellite tie-back fields, the most of any in the Shell deep water Gulf of Mexico portfolio. In 2010 and 2011 Auger had 5 recordable injuries per year (TRIF of 6 per million man hours worked).
In this same timeframe, Shell also made a major discovery, Deep Cardamom, 6 miles from Auger. The Cardamom field will increase oil and gas production on Auger back to nearly peak facility production rates and give the facility a new lease on life.
In order to add one more subsea tieback and onboard Cardamom production, many upgrades and facility changes were required. This scope called for simultaneous production, drilling and brown field construction on the asset for 2 ½ years. From a personnel perspective, this required a 20% increase in personnel capacity at Auger with a full-time construction team of 80 to 100 people, in addition to the normal production crew of 100. Shell recognized that the increase in activity level would increase exposure to individuals at Auger. This fact, coupled with the recent safety performance track record, required a step change in safety culture simultaneous with the increase in personnel capacity and hazard exposure.
The Auger/Cardamom team focused on re-invigorating the safety culture offshore; driving visible, vigilant and felt safety leadership; hazard recognition training of the front line work force; improvements in PPE; and improvements in the quality of life and working conditions. The re-invigorated safety program moved beyond compliance to a culture of individual accountability and personal commitment to caring for each other with strong leadership behaviors.
This paper describes the efforts to re-invigorate the safety culture on the facility. The team moved safety culture and performance to one of the best in Shell worldwide, including a Goal Zero year in 2013 with no recordable injuries.
