PSA carried out audit of Snorre B

The PSA has carried out audits within several disciplines at Snorre B.

Snorre is an oil field in the Tampen area of the North Sea, around 150 kilometres west of Florø. The field has been developed using two floating integrated production facilities, Snorre A and B, and one subsea template tied back to Snorre A. Statoil is the field’s operator.

The Snorre B facility is in the northern part of the Snorre field. Production at Snorre B began in 2001, and the facility’s design life runs to 2021. Statoil has given notice that they are planning to apply to extend the operating life of the facility.

From 24 October to 7 November 2016, the PSA carried out an audit of Statoil’s handling of major accident and working environment risk at Snorre B. The audit focused on process integrity, working environment, materials handling, maintenance, and drills and wells. This audit is part of the PSA’s efforts to follow up late-life facilities.

The audit revealed non-conformities relating to:

— Follow-up of working environment factors

— Operator cabin for pipe handling crane

An improvement point was also identified concerning the use of process shutdown valves as emergency shutdown valves.

Statoil has been given a deadline of 1 February 2017 to report on how the non-conformities will be dealt with and how the improvement point will be assessed.