Offshore Supply Company Optimises Safety, Cuts Costs with Xgard Bright with MPS Sensor

Working together to save costs

This case features a Malaysian offshore supply company (MOSC) that provides a comprehensive range of upstream oil and gas services including well pumping, coiled tubing units and the rental and supply of offshore accommodation cabins. The firm has a long established relationship with Crowcon’s Malaysian distributor One Gasmaster, and had been using Flamgard gas detectors for some time with calibration support from One Gasmaster, when the time came to replace the Flamgard sensor. Crowcon’s distributor realised that this presented an opportunity for the MOSC to save costs while adhering to very strict offshore safely compliance requirements.

The challenges of offshore gas detection

One of the services the MOSC offers is the construction and supply of accommodation cabins for offshore rigs and platforms. Each cabin contains a Crowcon gas detector, to detect flammable gases and alert the central control room as soon as these are found.
Since the accommodation units are usually sited offshore, they operate in harsh and hazardous conditions (combustible gases, hydrogen sulphide and volatile organic compounds [VOCs] are ever-present risks) and are inaccessible. Consequently, the maintenance and calibration of the gas detectors was costly, potentially dangerous and difficult. Thus the gas detectors were generally maintained when the rental cabins were returned to the company for overhaul.

One Gasmaster realised that if the MOSC replaced their existing detectors with a unit with Crowcon’s latest MPS™ flammable sensor, the client would not require calibration for up to 5 years, and would benefit from the fact that MPS™ flammable sensors are resistant to poisoning effects. Thus, the MOSC could enhance their safety profile while saving the substantial sums they were currently spending on maintenance. They approached the client with a view to replacing the existing in-cabin detectors with fixed Xgard Bright with MPS™ sensor, and the MOSC agreed.

The benefits of MPS™

In this situation, where the gas detectors had to operate in tough, dangerous conditions and an isolated environment, the use of Xgard Bright with MPS™ flammable sensor gave the client multiple benefits. The Xgard Bright with MPS™ sensor monitors over 15 flammable gas hazards (including hydrogen) simultaneously without the use of calibration factor, all with TrueLEL™ accuracy. This drives up safety and cuts down the risk of false and/or non alarms, while the detector sounds an alarm for the central control room as soon as a genuine flammable risk is detected.

The MPS™ sensor is also ideal for offshore work because unlike pellistor sensors (which until MPS™ were among very few options for detecting hydrogen) it resists sensor poisoning and therefore failure, even where VOCs are present. This, coupled with the 5-year warranty coverage of the MPS™ sensor and its maintenance- and calibration-free nature, makes it the ideal choice where customers need to put a fixed detector in place and leave it undisturbed for years at a time, without compromising safety or their own peace
of mind.

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