From 22 to 25 September 2014, the Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA) has carried out an audit of the control and management of materials handling and the technical condition of lifting equipment at Statoil and the company’s management of lifting-equipment maintenance at Snorre A platform, in the Norwegian North Sea.
The objective of the audit was to assess the company’s control and management of materials handling, the technical condition of lifting equipment and lifting operations, and the company’s management of lifting-equipment maintenance at Snorre A. There was also an objective of verifying Statoil’s established improvement measures in cranes and lifting, with a primary focus on the drilling area, PSA said.
As part of the audit, a verification of scaffolding and safety equipment was scheduled. The PSA explains that the aim was to acquire technical information about an identified item of lifting equipment in the drilling area which is part of the PSA’s European market survey project.
The PSA made observations of a technical, operational and organisational nature. Non-conformities were identified in the following areas: Use of hose stations; Use of cranes in the shafts; Lifting gear; Scaffolding.
The Snorre development embraces two platforms, A and B. Snorre A is an integrated production, drilling and quarters (PDQ) unit. This tension leg platform is moored to the seabed by steel tethers.
Partly stabilised oil and gas from Snorre A is piped to the nearby Statfjord A platform for final processing. The oil is then loaded into shuttle tankers, while the gas is transported on to continental Europe through the Statpipe system and to St Fergus, Scotland through the Tampen link.
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