Currently BP is evaluating results from a trial of sharing SAR aircraft between North Sea platforms with a decision expected by summer 2004.

In May 2000 BP announced Project Jigsaw to enhance its North Sea platform safety provision by replacing standby vessels with Search and Rescue (SAR) helicopters. Since then the plan has been substantially modified to include a marine element, and in August 2001 BP announced plans to trial a new SAR system using a Bristow helicopter.

The program was launched December 2002, and trial flights continued for 7 months to July 2003. The cost of the exercise was put at US $10 million by the UK-based Emergency Response and Rescue Vessel Association (ERRVA), which has been opposed to the scheme.

BP is now evaluating the data and experience gained from its trial SAR flights before deciding whether or not to fully implement the new SAR system across all its North Sea platforms.

Joanne MacDonald, a spokeswoman for BP North Sea, said, "We hope to make a decision on whether or not we intend to go ahead with this new concept some time in the spring."

Bristow Helicopters won a deal from BP in August 2001 to supply a high- specification SAR aircraft for the trial, based on a AS332 L2 Super Puma helicopter operated from Aberdeen, Scotland, and fitted with Forward Looking Infra-Red and video cameras, radio homing equipment and new radar.

Enhancements to the proposed Jigsaw operation were made after consultation with BP's workforce. Changes included more involvement of multi-role vessels as well as dedicated SAR helicopters.
Other elements of the plan included thermal offshore work suits (TOWS) to be worn by personnel working outside platforms, such as scaffolders, painters, abseilers and riggers who work over the side of an installation who are more susceptible to falling into the sea. The suits are designed to prolong survival in cold seas by providing 2.5 times the thermal protection of normal clothing in water at 41°F (5°C). Personal Locator Beacons form another part of the new plan, alongside the introduction of Mustang autonomous rescue and recovery (ARRC) craft, plus smaller open-topped fast recovery craft, in addition to diver delivery vehicles (DDVs) These are designed to be operated by a winch man and to be used where anyone in the water is too close to a platform to assist their removal to open sea before being lifted back on board by a helicopter. Another Jigsaw element is the provision of radar early warning systems (REWS) to provide collision risk protection already in use on several BP installations.

Throughout the process of equipment ordering and testing, opposition to the plan has been voiced not just by the ERRVA but also by the Inter Union Offshore Oil Committee (IUOOC), which has expressed fundamental doubts about the ability of helicopters to replace boats in a close support role.
Andrew Linington, spokesman for the UK's national union of marine aviators and shipping transport (NuMAST) officers, said unions still had fundamental reservations about Jigsaw, including the ability of helicopters to carry out a mass platform evacuation if the need arose.

He said if BP implements the project, other operators might well follow. "Other operators are looking at what is being done here. As soon as BP goes ahead with it, we are certain a number of operators will go ahead with it," he said.

After meetings with BP in December 2003 and January this year, the NuMAST spokesman said an implementation date was imminent. "We expect a decision by the end of this month," Linington said in early March.

However, a BP spokeswoman was unable to be more definite about the decision on an implementation date: "We have said the spring. We cannot be more specific than that."

Nevertheless BP's West of Shetland assets - Foinaven and Schiehallion - have been ruled out of the project, "because you cannot station an SAR helicopter on a floating production system. We said at the outset that West of Shetland would not be part of Jigsaw," the BP spokeswoman said.
Consequently the safety plan is likely to apply to BP's North Sea assets only, including the Magnus field in the northern North Sea, Pierce, ETAP plus southern gas basin platforms.

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