Safety body probes construction of Martin Linge production platform

Norway’s offshore safety body, the Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA), has found one non-conformity and several improvement points during a probe of the construction site for Total’s Martin Linge production platform.

The offshore safety agency said on Tuesday that the non-conformity was linked to the arrangement of offshore cranes.

The noted improvement points were regarding access to monitoring, control, and maintenance, governing documentation for lifting operations and preparations for operation, measures to combat benzene exposure, procedures for noise testing, and follow-up of actions aimed at experience transfer to the operational phase.

The audit took place at the construction site for the production unit in South Korea from January 17-20, with a subsequent meeting at the operational organization’s offices in Stavanger.

The PSA added that the purpose of the audit was to verify Total’s management of emergency preparedness factors, materials handling and working environment during the project phase, and fabrication of the facility complies with regulatory requirements.

Total was told to report on how the non-conformity will be dealt with and how the improvement points will be assessed by April 30, at the latest.

As far as the Martin Linge field is concerned, Total E&P Norge is the operator of the field. It is located offshore Norway near the British part of the North Sea, about 42 kilometers west of the Oseberg field.

The Martin Linge development plan includes integrated wellhead, production, and accommodation platform with a jacket, in addition to a floating, storage and offloading (FSO) vessel used for oil storage. When the field comes on stream, the gas will flow through a new pipeline connecting the field to the existing pipeline to St. Fergus in Scotland.

The entire facility will be powered from land. The start of production, initially planned for the end of 2016, has been delayed and set for 2018.