Audit reveals several flaws on ExxonMobil’s Ringhorne

Norwegian offshore safety body, the Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA), has announced the audit results of ExxonMobil’s operations on Ringhorne platform, offshore Norway.

PSA said on Thursday that audit was conducted from May 20-26 and that its scope included logistics arrangements, materials handling, management of cranes and lifting operations and maintenance of lifting equipment at Ringhorne.

The objective of the audit, according to the PSA, was to verify compliance with the company’s own and the authorities’ requirements in respect of operational, administrative and technical factors within the audit area.

The audit showed two non-conformities and three improvement points. The non-conformities relate to offshore cranes and communication while the improvement points regard technical conditions, documentation, and competence.

PSA has told ExxonMobile to report on how the non-conformities and improvement points will be dealt with by August 1, at the latest.

The Ringhorne field is located about 9 km north of the Balder FPSO and includes a platform with initial processing and water injection capabilities. Production started in February 2003. After production start-up, two discoveries in the western and eastern part of the field were included.

ExxonMobil is the operator and has 100 percent ownership in the Ringhorne field, except for Ringhorne East where ExxonMobil’s equity is 77.4 percent. The other Ringhorne East partners are Statoil (14.8 percent) and Faroe Petroleum (7.8 percent).