Page 31 - Sphere No.17 (Sep 2006)

SPHERE 29
HE ALARMGOES OFF AT 5:55 am andWanda Burt gets out of bed, showers, dresses
and heads off to work for Husky Energy. It sounds like a normal routine shared by
many of her fellow Canadians but her “office” is 350 kilometres off the coast of New-
foundland on the oil rich eastern rim of the North American continental shelf.
Wanda is one of 90 people who live on board the SeaRose FPSO in the middle of
White Rose oil field. This remarkable floating, production, storage and offloading
vessel separates oil, water and gas from the crude oil and then stores the processed oil
before it is loaded onto shuttle tankers.
Wanda is a junior records analyst with the Document Control Centre where she
performs the vital task of maintaining all the updated technical and safety manuals
and ensuring hard copies are available for the operations team
24 hours a day. As we shall see, it is a job that can save lives
in an emergency.
Conditions can get very rough and the oil field is in
an area known locally as “iceberg alley”, the annual mi-
gration route of icebergs from the Arctic. Fortunately,
2006 has been relatively ice-free and the only concern
for Wanda has been heavy blankets of fog. “In 30 years
of living in Newfoundland, I’ve never seen anything like
it,” she said. “It has to be one of the foggiest places in the
world. But the sunsets are absolutely gorgeous. There’s no pol-
lution out here.”
Wanda puts in 12-hour shifts while working on board for up to three weeks at a
time. But it’s not all work and no play as the SeaRose FPSO is superbly equipped to
look after her crew; the cabins are spotless and there’s a movie room, the gym, jam
sessions in the music room and card games to keep people occupied.
And then there’s the food. “It’s a little too good,” chuckles Wanda. “It’s phenomenal.
There’s a full breakfast with multi-grained bread with the crust on just for me. At
lunch and dinner there are many choices of meats and salads.”
Wanda says her initial fears about being one of only a handful of females on board
proved groundless. “You get to know each other pretty quickly when you are living
together offshore,” she said. “And the work environment is really respectful. We’re
family out here. It’s like having a whole batch of big brothers, and being an only
child...that’s nice. It’s not all fun and games but it is a great experience, a totally differ-
ent atmosphere work-wise. And I’ve always loved the water.”
Like many people from the sparsely-populated island of Newfoundland (pro-
nounced Newf ’nd-land) the sea has both beautiful and bitter memories for Wanda.
One event in particular will never be forgotten.
The Ocean Ranger disaster occurred in February 1982 off Newfoundland. The rig
sank in a storm and all 84 people on board were lost. The Ocean Ranger is a particu-
larly emotional issue for just about everyone in the province - Newfoundland is still
a very close-knit community - and most people were touched directly or indirectly
by the disaster.
An official inquiry tightened safety regulations in the industry. For example, the
crew of the Ocean Ranger had no manuals explaining how to repair a vital piece of
equipment that could have saved the vessel (see sidebar). That could never happen
today thanks to the work of Wanda and her team.
Wanda was only a child when the Ocean Ranger went
down and although she lost no members of her family
it left a lasting impression.
“The Ocean Ranger disaster was one of the most in-
fluential events of my life,” she said. “I still remember
Left: Wanda Burt on
the flight deck of the
SeaRose FPSO, “It’s
a great experience, a
totally different atmo-
sphere work-wise.”