Safety audit reveals irregularities on Ekofisk platform

Norwegian offshore safety watchdog, the Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA), has found irregularities during an audit of ConocoPhillips’ Ekofisk 2/4 J platform offshore Norway. 

The PSA said on Wednesday that the audit of Ekofisk 2/4 J platform was conducted from August 20 to September 5, 2018.

The objective of the audit was to assess how ConocoPhillips is ensuring compliance with the authorities’ requirements at Ekofisk 2/4 J. During the planning and execution of the audit, use was made of ConocoPhillips’s requirements that particularise the regulatory requirements within passive fire protection, insulation, and corrosion under insulation (CUI).

The PSA added that it identified non-conformities in connection with fire integrity, documentation of structural integrity, and documentation of passive fire protection on valves under separators.

Also, improvement points were identified regarding organization and tidiness, non-conformity handling of open penetrations, and corrosion protection.

The PSA told ConocoPhillips to report on how the non-conformities and improvement points would be addressed by November 14, 2018.

The offshore safety watchdog earlier this month also released results of an audit relating to activities at Ekofisk 2/4 J, M, Z, L, B, and K.

Ekofisk

On December 23, 1969, Phillips Petroleum – now ConocoPhillips – informed the Norwegian government that it had discovered Ekofisk – one of the largest offshore oil fields ever found.

The field, located some 200 kilometers south of Stavanger, started production in 1971 via the Gulftide platform and is in production even today, more than four decades after the original discovery.

The Greater Ekofisk Area today comprises four producing fields: Ekofisk, Eldfisk, Embla, and Tor. Crude oil is exported to Teesside, England, and the natural gas is exported to Emden, Germany.