ExxonMobil investigating near-miss incident on Hebron platform

A near-miss incident on the ExxonMobil-operated Hebron platform located offshore Canada has been reported to the Canadian offshore regulator.

ExxonMobil has reported that, on 24 June 2020, on the Hebron platform, a container bumped a temporary handrail, according to a report by the C-NLOPB.

A piece of the handrail, which weighed approximately 9kg, fell approximately 20m and landed on the intervention deck below.

There were no injuries and no personnel were in the area.

However, the regulator said that the incident had had the potential for fatality, based on the Dropped Objects Prevention Scheme (DROPS) calculator.

ExxonMobil stopped all crane operations, installed hard barriers at the handrail location, and has initiated an investigation into the root cause of the incident.

The C-NLOPB is monitoring ExxonMobil’s investigation of the incident.

Discovered in 1980, the Hebron field is estimated to contain more than 700 million barrels of recoverable resources.

The Hebron platform consists of a stand-alone gravity-based structure, which supports an integrated topsides deck that includes living quarters and drilling and production facilities.

The platform has a storage capacity of 1.2 million barrels of oil. The production started in November 2017.