Lighting upgrade cuts offshore maintenance and installation costs

31 October 2008

Shell UK has completed an extensive lighting upgrade programme across 12 of its North Sea oil platforms, which in-volved the removal and installation of several thousand explosion-proof fluorescent lighting units, supplied by Cooper Crouse-Hinds (UK).

CEAG fluorescent lighting cuts maintenance and installation costs

The programme is part of a much larger rejuvenation project at Shell, which involves not only emergency lighting, but also other types of electrical equipment located in hazardous areas. The programme is currently being expanded to include Shell UK’s onshore facilities.

For the lighting units, the original supply agreement was made back in 2005. The eight-year contract involved the supply of lighting to both onshore and offshore installations, from Cooper Crouse-Hinds’ CEAG eLLK 92 range of fluorescent light fittings. The lights have been fitted to both indoor and outdoor locations across the 12 Shell North Sea oil platforms. As part of the contract, Cooper Crouse-Hinds (UK) also provided technical support and installation training.

John Ferguson is Senior Electrical Engineer at Shell UK. He works in the Project Engineering department and is also Technical Authority for Electrical Discipline Support at Shell UK Exploration and Production Europe. He commented: “In 2005, we evaluated three suppliers of explosion-proof fluorescent lighting. We needed to replace most of the fluorescent lights across 12 of our offshore oil platforms, for obsolescence and other age-related reasons. In awarding the contract, the key drivers for us were cost of ownership of the lighting and a range of other factors that were weighted and scored accordingly. These factors included ease of installation and maintenance, warranties and innovation – the most important factor being Product Reliability. This, in the end, led us to choose Cooper Crouse-Hinds UK, who scored very well in all these areas.”

CEAG fluorescent lighting cuts maintenance and installation costs

Quality and reliability of the lighting were key factors for Shell. As Ferguson recalled: “Since 2005, in excess of 10,000 light fittings have been supplied to us and only around 20 fittings have had to be returned to the supplier. However, only two or three of these were due to design or technical faults with the product – the rest were because of incorrect installa-tion on our behalf. Overall, we are very satisfied with the quality and reliability of the lights.”

Ease of installation and maintenance of the light fittings were also critical factors in selecting the lighting supplier. As Ferguson explained: “Cooper Crouse-Hinds went the extra yard for us by providing a handy, pocket-sized reference guide for all our maintenance engineers and technicians. This includes important installation and maintenance information and is very easy to use. In fact, most of our technicians now carry a copy in the pocket of their overalls.”

Cooper Crouse-Hinds UK also provided on-site installation training. “On the technical support side, Cooper Crouse-Hinds reacted very quickly to any queries that we had. In one particular example, the company modified the design of its light fitting ballast by incorporating new circuitry that detects the early stages of the tube ‘end-of-life’ phenomenon and shuts down the fitting, thus avoiding a potential overheating problem with the fluorescent light. We were very pleased with such a fast response from their R&D team on this matter.”

CEAG fluorescent lighting cuts maintenance and installation costs

The eLLK 92 range of fluorescent lighting units are available for ATEX Zone 1, Zone 2, Zone 21 and Zone 22 hazardous areas. The lighting units come in 2, 4 or 5 feet lengths, with twin lights. The 2 and 4 feet versions can be supplied as emergency lighting. These versions have an ‘intelligent’ NIB battery fitted, which monitors the lighting, providing on-board maintenance with LED indication for ‘capacity’ and ‘faults’. The eLLK 92 fluorescent lighting units are designed with a glass fibre-reinforced plastic enclosure and a polycarbonate protective bowl. The units are protected to IP66 (EN 60529). Permissible ambient temperatures are from -20°C up to +50°C. This emergency light unit formed the bulk of the supply for the Shell offshore refurbishment project.