21 February 2013 Allan Matheson - Ultra deep water drilling

In at the Deep End

Last Thursday's well attended talk at the Rotary Club of Bridge of Allan and Dunblane at the Westlands Hotel was by Allan Matheson, son of founder member and past president of the club, Ken Matheson.

Allan is Master of the ship Stena Carron, currently stationed in the North Sea, west of Shetland where she is contracted to BP. Allan trained with BP and has worked all over the world. The Stena Carron was one of the vessels called in to deal with the aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010.

The ship is one of the 6^th generation of Ultra Deep Water Harsh Environment Drillships capable of operating in temperatures down to -20 degrees and very heavy seas - it can operate in up to an 8 metre 'heave' before it needs to disconnect, and can work in depths up to 10,000 feet.

It cost $1.2 billion dollars to build in 2008, is 228m long, 42m wide and 12 stories high. It is truly 'state of the art' having six 7.4MW diesel generators powering 6 thrusters which enable it to hold station using GPS satellite signals and is equipped with the latest technology to control every aspect of its operations. It has listening devices for whales, is carbon neutral and is less polluting than the average fishing boat. Allan's talk was accompanied by photos of the ship in operation and illustrated why the continuing search for oil in extremely harsh environments depends very much on the skill and commitment of people like him and his crew.

Allan was thanked by Rod Jones for an excellent talk.

President Iain Smith closed the meeting by reminding members of the following events: the Interact Club would receive its Charter at Queen Victoria School on 27 February; the Primary School Quiz would be held in the Parish Church Hall in Bridge of Allan at 4pm on Friday 1 March and the Art Auction was on 29 March at the Doubletree by Hilton Hydro in Dunblane.