PSA Inspects Norne Field Subsea Facilities

Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA) Norway has inspected Statoil’s operation of subsea facilities and leak detection systems on the Norne field.

The audit of the Norne field, located in the Norwegian Sea blocks 6608/10 and 6608/11, was conducted in collaboration with the Norwegian Environment Agency.

The objective of the audit was to gain an overview of how Statoil operates subsea facilities and leak detection systems at Norne and to examine if operations comply with company’s own requirements and statutory regulations, PSA explained.

Five regulatory non-conformities were identified by the audit. These included governing documents, risk and critical assessments for preventing and detecting leaks, barriers, alarm management in the central control room and maintenance management.

PSA gave a deadline to Statoil until February 21, 2018, to report how the non-conformities will be addressed.

The Norne field has been developed with a production and storage ship tied to subsea templates.

Gas has been exported from Norne since February 2001. It travels through the Norne gas export pipeline and the Åsgard transport trunkline via Kårstø north of Stavanger to continental Europe.