Norway’s Petroleum Safety Authority announced its decision to investigate an incident involving a dropped object on the Åsgard B facility on 13 March 2019. The incident occurred while dismounting a trolley from a lifting beam on the main deck of the semi-submersible gas platform in the Norwegian Sea.
Norway proposed to add 90 new blocks across the Norwegian Continental Shelf in mature areas, 48 of these being in the Barents Sea. The proposed areas concerning the extension, include areas that are close to planned and existing infrastructure, and which are well known after several years of exploration activity.
On 24 January 2019, PSA Norway conducted an audit of Equinor and its management of safety systems and the electrical facilities on the Johan Sverdrup living quarters platform. The audit identified two improvement points regarding deficiencies in the storage of safety equipment for switchrooms; and deficient reviewing of reference documents in electrotechnical analyses.
A group of major oil and gas companies have joined forces to establish the first industry blockchain consortium in the United States. The move is aligned with the rising interest on blockchain technology for trade industry in recent years.
The Petroleum Safety Authority Norway has issued an order to Equinor after an audit of material handling and management of the working environment on Martin Linge A. This showed that non-conformities that were identified earlier by the PSA have not been corrected. The deadline for compliance with the order is 8 March 2019. PSA must be informed when the order has been conducted.
Offshore drilling company Transocean announced that it has entered into an agreement with its Norwegian oil and gas company Equinor, to license and install Automated Drilling Control (ADC) systems on five of its rigs.
Norwegian oil and gas giant Equinor has initiated an exploration campaign on the UK continental shelf (UKCS) comprising five wells in 2019, which is a record number for the company. Mainly, the two exploration wells, one to be operated by Equinor and the second from a partner, are moving forward. Three additional wells, operated by Equinor, are scheduled to be drilled during 2019.
Norway’s Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA) has found irregularities during an audit of Equinor’s Visund field, located in the North Sea. The audit was conducted from 20 to 23 November 2018. The Authority checked all materials handling, safe use and maintenance of lifting equipment at Visund.
Moss Maritime, in cooperation with Equinor, Wilhelmsen and DNV-GL, have developed a design for a Liquefied Hydrogen bunker vessel. The vessel design comes at a time when hydrogen is developing into a viable solution. The LH2 bunker vessel has cargo capacity of 9000 m³, with a cargo containment system aimed to enhance insulation performance and meet strict safety requirements.
PSA Norway will investigate a well incident which took place on the West Hercules mobile drilling unit, in the Barents Sea, on 16 January 2019. Equinor is operator for the exploration well, while Seadrill owns and operates West Hercules. During the drilling operation, the lower marine riser package on the blowout preventer was unintentionally disconnected and the work had to be stopped.
