Norway’s Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA) has carried out a “major accident” audit of Statoil’s Hammerfest liquefaction and export facility on Melkøya island.
From 21 to 23 June, the PSA assessed “how Statoil is satisfying the regulatory requirements and its own procedures in respect of reducing the likelihood of a major accident,” the safety watchdog said on Friday.
The audit focused in particular on barrier management, Statoil’s work on explosion protection and the systematic approach to change monitoring,
The audit found no non-conformities, the PSA said, adding that “an improvement point was identified connected with the updating of an explosion protection document.”
The safety watchdog said that Statoil has been given a deadline of September 15 to respond on how the improvement point would be assessed.
Statoil’s Hammerfest facility is currently Europe’s biggest liquefaction plant and uses gas from the Snøhvit ( Snow White) field in the Barents Sea. The Arctic gas is sent ashore through a 143 kilometer long pipeline to Melkøya near Hammerfest.
The plant has the capacity to produce 4.3 million tonnes per annum of the chilled fuel.