Johan Sverdrup drilling platform audit finds no major issues

The Norwegian offshore oil and gas safety body Petroleum Safety Authority Norway has found no major issues during a recent audit of the Johan Sverdrup drilling platform.

Johan Sverdrup is an oil and gas field under development at the Utsira High in the North Sea, 160 kilometers west of Stavanger.

Statoil is the operator of the field being developed using four fixed facilities with bridge connections. The remaining partners are Lundin Norway, Maersk Oil, Petoro, and Aker BP.

From 7 to 9 March 2017, the PSA carried out an audit of the detailed engineering and construction of the drilling platform (DP) for the Johan Sverdrup field.

The audit took place at Aibel Thailand, where the Main Support Frame (MSF) is under construction.

The audit forms part of a series of supervisions aimed at Statoil’s management and follow-up and Aibel’s design engineering of the Drilling Support Module (DSM) and MSF for the drilling facility for Johan Sverdrup, the PSA has explained.

“No regulatory non-conformities were identified during the audit,” PSA said, but it did find room for improvement.

According to the PSA, improvement points were detected relating to production support documentation – welding procedures; decisions and documentation concerning production non-conformities; and validation of qualifications.

The PSA has asked Statoil to report on how the improvement points will be assessed by 24 May 2017.