Lundin to remove emergency response vessel from Edvard Grieg field

Norway’s offshore safety regulator, the Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA), has given Lundin Norway the consent to change the area contingency planning on the Edvard Grieg field in the North Sea.

The PSA said on Friday that the change entailed removal of the emergency response vessel that was dedicated to the Edvard Grieg field.

According to the safety watchdog, access to an emergency response vessel will be ensured by Lundin signing an agreement to participate in the vessel part of the area contingency planning scheme for the Sleipner-Utsira area.

Lundin is already part of this scheme in respect of SAR response and ocean monitoring.

As for the field, Edvard Grieg is located in the North Sea some 180 kilometers west of Stavanger and started production on November 28, 2015.

The contingency planning consent for the Sleipner-Utsira area was given to Equinor (then Statoil), ExxonMobil, and Gassco in January 2017.

It involved 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 SAR helicopters.

Participating in such contingency planning means that rescue vessels for individual fields would be removed.

Aker BP joined the trio later that month as the company received consent to include the Alvheim field in the area contingency planning for the Sleipner-Utsira area.

Edvard Grieg audit

The PSA also announced results of an audit at Edvard Grieg. The objective was to assess how Lundin ensured compliance with the regulatory requirements pertaining to barrier management.

The safety body found two non-conformities in connection with penetrations in fire walls and follow-up of performance requirements for check valves and safety-critical heating cables.

Three improvement points were identified in regards to passive fire protection, governing documents for safety systems, and temporary equipment.

Lundin was told to report on how non-conformities and improvement points would be addressed by November 30, 2018.