Norway: Safety body finds irregularities on COSL rig

Offshore driller COSL has some work to do to make its COSLInnovator semi-submersible drilling rig fully compliant with the Norwegian regulation.

Norway’s Petroleum Safety Authority on Friday said it had from 10 to 18 April 2018, carried out an audit of COSL Drilling Europe and the company’s follow-up of electrical facilities, technical safety and drilling-related systems on COSLInnovator.

The objective of the audit was to follow up their own follow-up of operations, as well as follow-up of maintenance activities for monitoring of the performance and technical condition of electrical facilities, technical safety and drilling-related systems.

The petroleum safety body found irregularities related to: Electrical installations; Work in and operation of electrical facilities; Emergency power systems; Overview of status of safety systems;
Ventilation and over-pressure in the living quarters; Fire detection and fire pump start; Non-conformity handling; Maintenance management; Performance standards.

Apart from non-conformities found, PSA Norway also identified improvement points with relation to.: Follow-up; Capacity in the onshore organization; Labelling and signage of equipment and systems; Emergency decoupling; Assessment of maintenance effectiveness; Temporary equipment; Grating.

COSL Drilling Europe, a subsidiary of China’s COSL, has been given a deadline of  June 20, 2018 to report on how the non-conformities and improvement points will be addressed.

According to available information, the COSLInnovator rig is currently in the Norwegian section of the North Sea, conducting drilling operations for the Swedish offshore oil and gas company Lundin Petroleum.

As previously reported, the COSLInnovator return to work relatively recently, after having been idle due to damage sustained in December 2015 when it was struck by a steep wave, leading to the death of one crewmember, several injuries, and extensive damage to the living quarters.

The rig was working for Statoil on the Troll field in the North Sea, offshore Norway, when the horizontal wave smashed the rig’s two lower decks in the early morning on December 30, 2015.

Following the incident and subsequent investigation, DNV GL issued a new guideline for the rig owners regarding the air gap and horizontal wave loads calculations and requirements, making sure that a similar accident doesn’t happen again.

 

Offshore Energy Today Staff