Safety body checks emergency preparedness at Oseberg Sør

The Norwegian offshore safety body, the Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA), has found three non-conformities and four improvement points during an audit of Statoil’s Oseberg Sør platform.

The PSA said on Wednesday that the audit was conducted from August 14-23 and that it focused on emergency preparedness and technical safety on the North Sea platform.

According to the safety watchdog, the three identified non-conformities were in connection with securing of hatches, technical condition of field equipment in the PA installation, and the SAP maintenance system.

The four improvement points found during the audit were related to emergency plans, a system for training deputies, actions in the event of a fire in the cement pump room, and the alarm control room.

The PSA added that the objective of the audit was to verify that Statoil is ensuring emergency preparedness and technical safety at Oseberg Sør in compliance with regulatory requirements.

This included verification that the operational, organizational, and technical barrier elements are being addressed by Statoil in a consistent manner to ensure robust and prudent solutions regarding design and operation.

The agency told Statoil to report on how the non-conformities and improvements point would be addressed by October 30, 2017, at the latest.

As for the field, Oseberg Sør is an oil field in the northern part of the North Sea, south of the Oseberg field. The field has been developed with an integrated steel facility with accommodation, drilling module, and first-stage oil and gas separation. Production from the field began in 2000.