Norway’s Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA) has given a notice of order to French Engie to take the necessary measures to ensure that safety equipment on its offshore plants is properly operated, tested and maintained, following the condensate leak on the Gjøa field in June.
The Engie-operated Gjøa field lies in the North Sea, about 50 kilometres north-east of Troll and 65 kilometres south-west of Florø.
The leak occurred in the process module on the Gjøa facility on 21 June, leading to gas detection, a general alarm, automatic shutdown of the process plant, pressure blowdown and mustering in accordance with the alarm instructions.
Engie has estimated the leak rate at 1.06kg/s and the total quantity leaked as about 1.25m³. Analyses show that the fluid consisted largely of produced water with small quantities of hydrocarbons in the form of gas and condensate. The condensate did not ignite during the incident and the leak was halted after about 30 minutes.
The direct cause of the leak was a fatigue fracture in a weld on a ½-inch pipe nozzle installed on a condensate pump connected to the gas recompression system, according to data provided by PSA. In connection with the emergency shutdown, it was registered that an emergency shutdown valve (ESV) upstream from the leak site failed to close.
The emergency response command on the facility decided to evacuate 19 people to land. There were 49 personnel on board (POB) before the evacuation.
In its investigation of the incident, the PSA has found that Engie’s maintenance of the ESVs with associated actuators has been inadequate. The investigation has identified nonconformities from the regulations in the following areas:
- barriers and the barrier management system
- management and maintenance system
- responding to vibration
- organisation and management.
In addition, an improvement point has been identified related to carcinogenic and mutagenic chemicals.
On the basis of the investigation’s findings, Engie has been given notice of the following order, with deadline of compliance up to 2nd February:
“Pursuant to section 69 of the framework regulations on administrative decisions, see section 5 of the management regulations on barriers, Engie is ordered to take the necessary measures to ensure that safety-critical equipment is operated, tested and maintained in a way which ensures the performance of the barriers at all times.”
Further details may be found herebelow:
