Norfolk engineers manage to deter drilling delays in South China sea

Norfolk engineers have managed to develop and test vital parts for an oil rig in the South China Sea in record time, enabling the rig to commence its drilling schedule on schedule.

Mussett Engineering, of Loddon in Norfolk, was asked to undertake urgent work to manufacture components with just a week's notice after engineers on the rig realised that vital parts were missing earlier in February. The firm managed to supply two sets of parts to address the rig's hydraulic systems in this short time scale.

Managing director Gordon Mussett said: "We knew that the work had to be done on a very, very tight schedule because any delay to the project, which is the first deep-water well in the South China Sea, could have cost upwards of £1 million a day."

"Our senior engineers had to work from sketches over a weekend to make sure that we had drawings to work from and we had to order the material to be delivered to us overnight so that we could start the machining work as soon as the designs were finalised."

Logistics of the project also had to be factored in, ensuring that the parts could reach the rig at the other side of the world without any costly delays. Contacts across Europe and the Far East had been contacted, but Mussett was the only firm up to the challenge. The parts were flown on two separate couriers, one to Hong Kong and one to Kuala Lumpur.

Posted by Claire Manning