Norwegian oil firm Equinor, published a statement according to which an oil spill was observed during a loading operation in the North Sea offshore Norway on Wednesday, May 15. The company noted that when loading oil from buoy to shuttle tanker on the North Sea Statfjord field, oil was observed on the sea surface.
Aiming to open route for low-emission drilling on conventionally powered offshore rigs, Maersk Drilling announced it is entering a series of upgrades to convert its jack-up rig ‘Maersk Intrepid’ to a hybrid rig with low levels of NOx emissions, adding data intelligence to further reduce energy consumption and CO2.
Norwegian oil major Equinor has received approval from the Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA), for exploration drilling in the North Sea using the West Phoenix rig. The PSA commented on Thursday, May 2, that the consent applied to the drilling of the exploration well with an option to drill sidetrack 16/1-30 A.
The production of Equinor’s Aasta Hasteen gas field continues being out of operation as the Norwegian authorities and Equinor investigate the cause of a gas leak, which occurred on the field the previous week. No personal injuries have been reported as a consequence of the incident. According to Equinor, the operator company, personnel were in the immediate vicinity when the leak occurred.
Three days were enough to lift four of the last pieces in the Johan Sverdrup puzzle into place, namely the two final platform topsides, a bridge and a flare stack. The processing platform lift was the heaviest lift ever performed offshore. The installation and completion phase offshore at Johan Sverdrup began with installing the jacket for the riser platform in August 2017.
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.
