PSA inspects COSL Drilling’s anchoring systems

The Petroleum Safety Authority Norway (PSA) has carried out an audit of COSL Drilling’s follow-up of anchoring systems.

Since 2010, there have been a number of anchor line failures on the Norwegian Continental Shelf. The PSA says that during the period, COSL experienced a double line failure on the COSL Pioneer semi-submersible drilling rig.

According to the PSA, the objective of the audit conducted on September 15 and 16, 2015, was to verify that COSL has a system to provide for learning from its own and others’ incidents in order to reduce the likelihood of a new line failure.

The auditor has found one non-conformity identified in connection with model tests following an upgrade.

In addition, improvement points were identified in connection with investigations and follow-up of investigations, training and drills, procedures, and inspection of lower fairleads.

The PSA has given COSL Drilling AS a deadline of October 23, 2015, to report on how the non-conformity and improvement points will be dealt with.

As for the COSL Pioneer, its contract with Statoil was suspended in Q4 2014. Before the suspension, it was working on the Visund field in the North Sea, offshore Norway.

In June 2015, the Norwegian operator announced that it would cancel COSL Pioneer’s contract, 13 months before the expiry date of August 2016, due to overcapacity and lack of work. The cancellation has impacted 229 jobs.

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