Norwegian oil and gas company Equinor has received consent from the country’s offshore safety agency to extend the life of the Gullfaks C platform and associated pipelines located offshore Norway.
The Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA) said on Friday that Equinor had applied for consent to extend the operating life of Gullfaks C to June 30, 2036.
The consent for extended operating life is contingent on the operator having ascertained that the facilities, pipelines, and equipment are in a state that permits them to always be operated safely and in compliance with regulatory requirements.
The PSA found that Equinor had carried out the necessary assessments and investigations to ascertain this and the agency therefore gave Equinor the consent it applied for.
Equinor has already received a green light from the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate to using the C platform on the Gullfaks field until June 30, 2036.
Equinor is the operator of the Gullfaks field, which is situated in block 34/10 in the Tampen area of the northern North Sea. Gullfaks has been developed using three integrated processing, drilling and accommodation facilities with concrete jackets and steel decks (Gullfaks A, B, and C).
Gullfaks C was installed in May 1989 in waters that are 216 meters deep, and it started to produce on January 1, 1990. The design lifetime was 30 years.