A fire broke out on an oil platform offshore Trinidad’s east coast, injuring four workers, operator Trinity Exploration & Production said on Wednesday.
The “generator-related” blaze occurred on the Bravo platform in the Trintes field on Monday. Production was halted, the fire was extinguished and the crew evacuated. As a precautionary measure, production on other Trintes platforms was also shut down.
Four operators were onboard the platform at the time of the incident, with two sustaining minor burns and all four impacted due to smoke inhalation. They all received medical treatment for minor injuries and continue to be monitored, the company said in a statement.
Trinity added that no hydrocarbons were released into the environment and that it expects to complete the repairs within three to four days and restart the production once approval is received from the local authorities.
Oil production from the Bravo platform accounts for approximately 350 bopd. Total Trintes field production is approximately 1,010 bopd.
If this fire was “generator-related” and perhaps therefore due to excessive electrically caused resistive heat – proceeding on to ignition, – then there is a window of opportunity to prevent such a fire by installing a heat sensing device – in this case one called Thermarestor, a UK patented device. This predictive sensor provides a valuable span of time in which to make important decisions.
Please also see: https://splash247.com/uk-patented-sensor-backed-to-help-fight-shippings-growing-battery-fire-crisis/
It is difficult to second guess the circumstances here of course, but such an alert to a building problem is a simple way to mitigate damage to both lives and property assets.