Offshore safety body green-lights subsea ops off Norway

Oil and gas companies Aker BP, ExxonMobil, Gassco, and Statoil have received consent from Norway’s safety body, the Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA), for manned underwater operations in 2017.

The PSA said on Friday that Statoil signed framework agreements with Technip Norge and Subsea 7 Norway on the performance of manned underwater operations in 2017.

Through a Pool Agreement, ExxonMobil E&P Norge and Gassco also expressed their wish to make use of the framework agreements, the safety body said.

Deal with Technip

Under the framework agreement with Technip, manned underwater operations will be performed using the diving support vessel DSV Deep Arctic and the light diving craft LDC Technip Seahunter.

Once completed, the DSV Deep Explorer will also be used during subsea operations. PSA added that Statoil needs to notify the safety body before it deploys the newbuild, expected sometime during the first half of the year.

Deal with Subsea 7

Deal with Subsea 7 entails the use of diving support vessels Seven Falcon, Seven Atlantic, Pelican, and the light diving craft LDC Seven Spray. The consent applies to defined tasks connected with the repair of corrosion damage to caissons at Oseberg Sør. This work will be performed using LDC Seven Spray.

The consent also applies to undefined operational and project activities as may be required during the period, relating to the companies’ production licenses and pipeline systems. This also includes pipelines on foreign shelves that are under Norwegian jurisdiction as well as emergency repair response for any underwater installations and pipelines.

Work on Alvheim

Aker BP has signed a separate agreement with Subsea 7 for underwater activities in the Alvheim area, Ula, and Tambar, and has applied for consent for these.

The diving support vessels DSV Seven Falcon and DSV Seven Atlantic will be used for these activities. Also, the light diving craft LDC Seven Spray will be used for any surface-oriented diving.

The PSA has granted consent for manned underwater operations except for one item in Statoil’s application concerning diving in the depth range of 180-225 meters.

For this item, Statoil is to provide the PSA with supplementary documentation before the authorities can complete the handling of the consent application.