Norwegian oil major Statoil has received consent from the Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA) to change the emergency response vessel solution for the Norne field in the Norwegian Sea.
Norne is an oil and gas field located around 80 kilometers north of Heidrun. The field has been developed using a floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel tied to seven well templates.
To date, Norne has had its own emergency response vessel. However, after Statoil gained consent to change contingency planning at the Halten-Nordland area in the Norwegian Sea, the oil company applied for consent to remove the Norne emergency vessel.
Statoil’s change of the contingency planning at the Halten-Nordland area involves cooperation on emergency preparedness between several facilities and fields with the aim of sharing maritime and airborne emergency response resources. These resources may include one or more emergency response vessels and search and rescue (SAR) helicopters.
As a result of these changes, the area response for Halten-Nordland is now covered by two vessels.