Shell Reports Two Deaths at GOM Platform

Shell reported that two fatalities occurred Sunday morning at the company’s Auger Tension Leg Platform (TLP) in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico (GOM) approximately 214 miles (340 kilometers) south of New Orleans.

One of the inviduals was a Shell employee and the other worked for the oilfield services firm Danos, according to a Shell written statement emailed to Rigzone. A second Shell employee sustained a non-life-threatening injury and was treated at a nearby hospital and released, the company added.

Shell said the incident occurred at approximately 10 a.m. Central time during a routine and mandatory test of its lifeboat launch and retrieval capabilities at the platform. 

The U.S. Coast Guard and the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) are investigating the incident and are receiving full cooperation from Shell, the company stated. Moreover, Shell noted that it will conduct a separate internal probe.

According to Shell, company representatives have informed family members of individuals involved and are providing support. The company also stated that names are not being released out of respect for the families and their privacy.

“In the over forty years that Shell has operated in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico we have strived, above all, to ensure our people go home safely to their loved ones,” Shell stated. “It’s devastating when they do not. We deeply regret this loss of life within our Shell community.”

Shell also reported there has been no impact to the environment and that the asset is stable.

Shell's website describes Auger, which began operations in 1994, as the company's largest net GOM producer and the world's first TLP. However, ConocoPhillips' Hutton TLP in the North Sea, went into service a decade earlier.