Safety nod for Aker BP to use Maersk rig on Ivar Aasen field

Norway’s offshore safety watchdog, the Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA), has given its consent to Aker BP for the use of the Maersk Interceptor drilling rig on the Ivar Aasen field offshore Norway. 

The safety agency said on Friday that the consent is for the use of the jack-up rig Maersk Interceptor for production drilling on the Ivar Aasen field.

The consent covers drilling of wells 16/1-D 15 and 16/1-D-18.

Ivar Aasen is located in the northern North Sea, 30 kilometers south of Grane and Balder. The field is operated by Aker BP.

First oil from the field was produced on December 24, 2016. It was developed as a stand-alone platform for partial processing and water conditioning and injection, with transfer of the multiphase hydrocarbon mixture through two pipelines to the neighbouring Edvard Grieg field for final processing and export.

Maersk Interceptor is a jack-up rig operated by Maersk Drilling. The rig was issued with an Acknowledgement of Compliance (AoC) by the PSA in 2014.

In December 2017, an incident happened on the Maersk Interceptor rig while working on the Tambar field for Aker BP.

Namely, one worker died following a fall into the sea during maintenance work on the rig and another one was injured during the incident.

Several breaches of the regulations were later identified, with the PSA saying that several people could have died had the circumstances been slightly different.

Offshore Energy Today Staff