Embarrassing but true, the Orlan platform used to be called the Glomar Beaufort Sea I CIDS
Slap-dab on page 1 of last week’s Petroleum News there was a photo of the Orlan production platform being used offshore Sakhalin Island. Although the Russian professor who was the subject of three Arctic articles in that issue (and two in this issue) did NOT say the Orlan platform was of Russian or Norwegian make, one might have assumed that because “Orlan” is a Russian word that means “eagle.”
In fact, the Orlan used to be called the Glomar Beaufort Sea I CIDS. Before it was purchased by ExxonMobil and towed to Sakhalin by Crowley to be converted into a production platform, it was used offshore Alaska’s North Slope for exploration drilling (but mostly it sat idle.)
To add salt to the wound, it was Don Ingraham from Offshore Divers, not someone at Petroleum News, who recognized the Orlan as the CIDS.
Offshore Divers has been involved in numerous diving projects in Alaska during the last 28 years, everything from the installation of the Steelhead and Osprey platforms in Cook Inlet, to the CIDS, SDC and Kulluk units on the North Slope.
Thank you, Don.
—Petroleum News
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