Offshore regulator finds emergency preparedness flaws at Ivar Aasen

Norway’s offshore safety watchdog, the Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA), has found three non-conformities regarding emergency preparedness during an audit of Aker BP’s Ivar Aasen field, offshore Norway.

The audit took place from October 24 to 27, 2016, in the form of a meeting at the company’s premises onshore, followed up by verifications on the offshore platform.

The aim of the audit was to see how Aker BP arranges the administration and management of emergency preparedness and materials handling.

The PSA said on Thursday that the non-conformities were related to communications equipment, materials handling, user instructions for and marking of lifting equipment. The safety body also identified three improvement points regarding evacuation routes, materials handling plan, and individual technical issues.

The Ivar Aasen field is located in the northern part of the North Sea, about 175 km west of Karmøy, and contains around 186 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe).

The development consists of a production, drilling and living quarters with a steel jacket and a separate jack-up rig for drilling and completion. Production from the field began on December 24, 2016.

Aker BP is the operator of the field with a 34.7862% interest. The other partners in the field are 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.

PSA informed Aker BP to report on how the non-conformities will be dealt with and how the improvement points will be assessed by February 1, 2017, at the latest.