Brazil: Worker injured on P-37 FPSO

A worker has been injured aboard the P-37 floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel operated by Brazilian oil giant Petrobras.

Brazilian oil workers’ union Sindicato dos Petroleiros (Sindipetro) do Norte Fluminense said on Sunday that the accident on the P-37 occurred on Saturday, November 4.

The incident involved an ELFE boiler that was shipped on the P-37 and, according to Sindipetro, could have resulted in a loss of life.

According to the union, the incident happened during the execution of a screw removal for flange removal and valve replacement, when the worker was injured during a pressure discharge which had not been indicated by the designated instruments.

The P-37 floating production storage and offloading unit is located in the Marlim field in the Campos Basin. The Marlim field was the location of several accidents this year.

Three workers died in a boiler explosion in June aboard the Norbe VIII drillship which was at the Marlim field at the time.

Apart from this, in March this year, a helicopter had a rough landing and crashed into the heliport of the Petrobras-operated P-37 FPSO.

Also, there was a collision between a support vessel and the Petrobras-operated P-35 FPSO, as well as an incident with a riser of the P-19 which was dropped and caused a leak of oil into the sea.

“The number and severity of accidents shows that we are getting closer to a catastrophe, but the management of the company makes a point of wanting to deceive itself by disclosing a smaller numbers of accidents,” said Sindipetro on Sunday.

Sindipetro added that the worker was evacuated using a medical aircraft and was given medical attention.

Tezeu Bezerra, general coordinator of Sindipetro do Norte Fluminense, said: “The union has appointed director Guilherme Fonseca in the investigative commission, which will show, once again, that the company’s persistence of not listening to the workers and their warnings about the current safety situation is a serious problem and a cause of these accidents.”

Offshore Energy Today Staff