Shell’s Draugen needs improvements, offshore safety body says

Norway’s offshore safety body Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA) has found several improvement points on the Shell-operated Draugen platform offshore Norway. 

Draugen is an oil field in the Norwegian Sea, around 150 km north of Kristiansund. Norske Shell, the Norwegian subsidiary of oil giant Shell, is the field’s operator.

The audit of Shell’s management of emergency preparedness at Draugen was carried out from October 3 to 5. The objective of this audit was to review and evaluate the management’s administration of emergency preparedness on the Draugen platform.

“We monitored the processes that Shell has established to ensure that prerequisites, limitations and recommendations in the emergency preparedness analysis are addressed, and that they are communicated out to the emergency preparedness organization,” the PSA said on Wednesday.

The safety body also wanted to verify that a system for continuous improvement had been implemented and how collaboration is being provided for at Draugen.

No non-conformities were identified. Improvement points were identified in connection with marking of escape routes and signage, registration of emergency preparedness training and exercises, HSE manual, and spare immersion suits and their maintenance.

Shell has been given a deadline of December 30, 2017, to report on how the improvement points will be addressed.