Italian oil company Eni has restarted production from the Goliat field in the Barents Sea offshore Norway, following repairs to the damaged offloading hose.
The field had been shut down in late December last year as the oil could not be unloaded and transported onshore due to a damage to the offloading hose.
Following reports that Eni restarted production at the field, Offshore Energy Today has reached out to the company seeking confirmation and further details about the repair works.
A spokesperson for Eni said: “Production of crude oil on Goliat has resumed following completion of offloading after successfully replacing three segments of the offloading hose. Work was carried out safely, without any unforeseen incidents.”
The spokesperson also added: “Due to unstable weather conditions work was delayed. Final acceptance tests and third party verification of hose have been carried out, confirming the integrity of the offloading system.”
The Goliat field is located in PL 229, 80 km north-west of Hammerfest, Northern Norway. Production from the field Eni-operated field started on March 12, 2016. Eni’s Norwegian subsidiary, Eni Norge, has 65 pct interest in the field, with Statoil as its partner with 35 pct interest.
Due to a number of safety incidents on the field’s cylindrical FPSO, the Norwegian offshore regulator, the Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA), said at the beginning of January it would carry out a full safety audit of the Goliat FPSO.
The regulator told Offshore Energy Today in January: ” A number of undesirable incidents have occurred on this facility since it came into use. Deficiencies have been discovered in operational preconditions for start-up and use as well as with the planning and execution of activities.”
According to the PSA, the company “acknowledged” a general need to improve management of risk and initiated a major project to deal with this.
Offshore Energy Today Staff