PSA Probes Gjøa Flexible Risers

The Petroleum Safety Authority Norway PSA has carried out an audit of the integrity management of flexible risers and associated safety-related equipment at Gjøa.

GDF SUEZ is the operator on the Gjøa field, which is an oil and gas field in the North Sea, around 45 km north-west of the Sognefjord. Gjøa has been developed using subsea templates tied back to a semi-submersible integrated facility.

The oil is transported to Mongstad via the Troll II pipeline, while the gas is transported to St Fergus in Scotland via a pipeline connected to the FLAGS pipeline system on the UK continental shelf.

The PSA has carried out an audit of GDF SUEZ’s integrity management of flexible risers and associated safety-related equipment on board the facility. The audit was conducted as a meeting with the organisation onshore on August 17, and as a verification on board the facility from August 30 to September 2, 2015.

The PSA informed that no regulatory non-conformities were detected during this audit.

However, improvement points were identified in connection with: Categorisation of non-conformities; Documentation of valve test results; Maintenance management; Governing documentation.

GDF SUEZ has been given a deadline of October 23, 2015 to report on how the improvement points will be assessed.