Norwegian offshore safety body, the Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA), has found an improvement point during an audit of Statoil’s Veslefrikk B platform, offshore Norway.
The PSA said on Tuesday that it carried out an audit of waves on deck at the Veslefrikk B platform in the North Sea on August 31, 2017.
The objective of the audit was to understand the status of Statoil’s follow-up for securing semi-submersible production facilities and tension leg platforms against waves on deck.
The safety regulator also wanted to gain an insight into Statoil’s routines and criteria for when measures are necessary to secure the facilities in given sea states. This task was focused in particular on Veslefrikk B, while the other facilities are covered by a planned meeting in October.
The PSA added that an improvement point was identified concerning the decision support from analyses. No non-conformities were found during the audit.
Statoil was given a deadline to report on how the improvement point would be addressed by October 26.
To remind, Statoil recently decided to extend the lifetime of the Veslefrikk field by seven years. As a result, the field will be operational until 2025, and beyond that, it will be subject to an annual estimate of profitability.
Veslefrikk lies in Norwegian North Sea block 30/3. The field came on stream in 1989 as the first development off Norway to use a floating production unit. Designated Veslefrikk B, this semi-submersible structure is tied to a fixed steel wellhead platform – Veslefrikk A.
Oil from the field is landed via the pipeline from the Oseberg development to the Sture terminal outside Bergen. Gas travels through the Statpipe system via Kårstø north of Stavanger to Emden in Germany.
Statoil is the operator of the Veslefrikk field with 18% interest, and its partners are Petoro (37%), Repsol Norge (27%), DEA Norge (13.5%), and Wintershall (4.5%).