Probe finds flaw in maintenance management on Stena’s semi-sub rig

Norway’s offshore safety watchdog, the Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA), has found an irregularity during an audit of a newly installed blowout preventer (BOP) on the Stena Don semi-submersible drilling rig.

The agency said on Monday that the audit identified one non-conformity in connection with maintenance management and three improvement points concerning BOP reliability requirements, the anti-collision system and knowledge of major accident risk.

The safety body added that the objective of the audit was to verify that the company is compliant with the regulatory requirements relating to BOP operations, control functions, testing, maintenance and reporting.

The audit was done from September 19 to 22. The initial meeting and presentations were done at Stena Drilling’s office in Stjørdal, followed by offshore verification and interviews with personnel on board the Stena Don rig currently working on the Troll field.

The meeting in Stjørdal was mainly related to HSE action, competence, and training for drilling crews and BOP maintenance responsibilities.

The Stena Drilling-operated Stena Don is a Sonat/Hitachi-designed, semi-submersible rig built in 2001. The rig received PSA’s Acknowledgement of Compliance (AoC) in March 2002.

PSA told Stena Drilling that a deadline to report on how the non-conformity and improvement points will be dealt with is November 11, 2016.