Offshore safety body finds irregularities on Leiv Eiriksson rig

Norwegian offshore safety body, the Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA), has found seven non-conformities and six improvement points during an audit of the Ocean Rig-owned Leiv Eiriksson drilling rig.

The PSA said on Monday that it conducted the audit of Ocean Rig and the company’s activities using Leiv Eiriksson for the operator Lundin in the Barents Sea from November 29 to December 8, 2017.

The objective of the audit was to monitor that winter operations along with associated technical, operational and organizational barriers are being conducted in compliance with the requirements and that the technical condition of electrical facilities, technical safety and drilling-related systems were being safeguarded in compliance with the requirements.

The safety watchdog identified seven non-conformities in connection with the firefighting system in the machine room, overpressure in living quarters, electrical installations, work in and operation of electrical facilities as well as emergency power, control of temporary equipment, and maintenance of equipment and systems.

The PSA also found improvement points regarding internal audits and follow-up, automatic emergency, the shutdown of the ventilation system, emergency lighting in shafts, facility-specific procedures and training – drilling and well technology. The other improvement points were in relation to the blow out preventer, performance and reporting, and the critical alarm panel (CAP) in the control room.

Ocean Rig was told to report on how the non-conformities and improvement points would be addressed by February 2018, at the latest.

The rig’s latest work for Lundin was an exploration well on the Hurri prospect in the Barents Sea, spud in early December 2017. Lundin said earlier this month that the well was dry.

As far as the rig goes, the Leiv Eiriksson is a semi-submersible rig, owned and operated by Ocean Rig. It is of a BINGO 9000 type, built in 2001. It is classified by DNV GL and registered in the Bahamas.