Revolutionary approach

Stena Drilling has teamed up with Drilling Systems to combine competency assessment and coaching in-the-field with the On-The-Rig (OTR) simulator for the very first time.

As Stuart Greer, operations manager at Stena Drilling explains: “The Stena Don had been in a warm stack situation from November 2016 with reduced crews. After securing a major contract, we needed to reactivate the rig in March 2018 and had new personnel joining some of the existing Stena Don crew. Quality, safety and performance are our top priority so we wanted to ensure all of our personnel were fully competent and able to cope with any eventuality.

“Together with Drilling Systems we developed a three-phased approach to preparing our drilling and lifting teams. We used Drilling Systems’ mobile OTR simulator, which can be located on the rig itself and realistically mirrors drilling and well control operations, alongside individual coaching sessions. This meant the crew could familiarise themselves with well control situations / procedures, as well as operational running of equipment in a controlled, safe environment. We were also able to test a wider range of high risk operational scenarios which could never be replicated on the job. Because the functions and graphics are very representational of the actual Cyberbase system, crew members gain experience and confidence and are better prepared for the real thing.

“Due to the success of the Stena Don project we will now be using the same approach on other rigs as they are brought back into use.”