Faults spotted during Ivar Aasen work environment audit

Norwegian offshore safety body, the Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA), has found three non-conformities and three improvement points during an audit of Aker BP-operated Ivar Aasen project off Norway. 

The PSA said on Wednesday that the audit was conducted from December 5 to 7, 2017.

The audit was focused on Aker BP’s management of the risk of serious health impacts and its facilitation of genuine employee participation.

The objective was to verify that Aker BP’s management of working environment risk and arrangements for genuine employee participation at the Ivar Aasen platform met regulatory requirements.

The PSA found three non-conformities in connection with the working environment mapping following organizational changes, work-related musculoskeletal disorders, and health risks from benzene exposure.

Improvement points identified during the audit were related to the follow-up of working environment conditions from project to operation, noise exposure harmful to health, and training in health risks within ergonomics.

Aker BP was told to report on how the non-conformities and improvement points would be addressed by February 23, 2018.

Discovered in 2008, the Ivar Aasen field is located in the northern part of the North Sea, about 175 km west of Karmøy. The water depth is about 110 meters. It contains around 186 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe).

It was developed as a stand-alone platform for partial processing and water conditioning and injection, with the transfer of the multiphase hydrocarbon mixture through two pipelines to the neighboring Edvard Grieg field for final processing and export.

The partners in the field are Aker BP with 34.7862% interest, Statoil with 41.4730%, Bayerngas Norway with 12.3173%, Wintershall Norway with 6.4651%, VNG Norway with 3.0230%, Lundin Norway with 1.3850%, and Okea with 0.5540% interest.

Aker BP marked one year of production from the Ivar Aasen field in late December of last year.