PSA Norway in Gudrun Facility Audit

During the periods 8-9 May and 14-16 May 2012, the Petroleum Safety Authority Norway (PSA) carried out an audit of Statoil’s compliance with regulatory requirements during engineering and construction of the wellhead module and process module for the Gudrun facility.

The audit was carried out through meetings in Aibel’s offices in Asker on 8-9 May 2012 with subsequent audit at the construction site in Thailand during the period 14-16 May 2012.

The audit included the electrical systems, instrumentation and technical safety disciplines.

Background

The Gudrun field is located approx. 50 kilometres north of the Sleipner Øst and Sleipner Vest fields. Water depth is about 110 metres. Gudrun will be developed with a facility with a steel jacket and first stage processing. It will be connected to Sleipner A through two pipelines; one for oil and one for rich gas.

Barriers are one of the PSA’s four main priorities. Experience shows that the players have implemented the regulatory barrier requirements to varying degrees.

The players’ work on establishing barrier requirements and barrier management during the design phase lays the foundation for maintaining this throughout the facility’s lifetime.

Objective

The PSA stipulates terms and follows up to ensure that players in the petroleum activities maintain high standards in health, safety, the environment and emergency preparedness, and through this also contributes to creating the greatest possible values for society.

The objective of the audit activity was to follow up how Statoil ensures compliance with requirements for establishment and implementation of technical and operational barriers in the development project.

Special emphasis was also placed on how Statoil, in collaboration with Aibel, ensures better understanding of:

The interaction between operator, development project, suppliers and operations preparations

The connection between the quantitative risk analysis, design accident loads, safety strategies and the barrier elements’ condition and performance in a lifetime perspective

Result

Two nonconformities were proven in relation to the system for electrical power supply and for establishment of barrier performance requirements.

Furthermore, improvement items were identified within flame detection and for the command structure in the emergency shutdown system.

[mappress]

Source: Press Release, July 8, 2012