Italian operator Eni has been hit with a string of safety related orders from Norway's Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA) following "serious" regulatory breaches on the Goliat facility in the Barents Sea.
The PSA has ordered Eni to reassess its current plans, priorities, and use of resources to ensure acceptable completion and operation of Goliat, Norway's first producing oil field in the Barents Sea and the northernmost producing oil field.
The order follows two other notices, which ask the firm to review its lifting equipment and winches on board Goliat and to resolve issues with a loading hose, following a member of staff being injured on the Goliat floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel in June last year. A deck operator suffered "serious head injuries" after being hit on the head by wire rope being reeled in using a work winch.
The PSA also issued a notice criticizing the firm's management of the working environment and employee participation. In both areas, the PSA says it found breaches of regulations.
Goliat came on stream in March last year, more than two years late, after a series of setbacks, from weather delays to "increasing complexity" on the production platform, built at Hyundai Heavy Industries in South Korea, and cost over-runs. The commissioning process came under close scrutiny from the PSA, which insisted partner Statoil completed verification on the unit before production could start.
The 360-420m water project is produced using a powered from shore, via a subsea cable, 107m diameter, 64,000-tonne cylindrical floating production facility, sitting 85km northwest of Hammerfest, Norway.
In late August, the unit suffered loss of power, due to gas detection in an unwanted area during a planned venting of gas, and had to be shut-in in late August. Production resumed late September.
In the notice to Eni, ordering the firm to reassess its plans, priorities and resources, PSA director general Anne Myhrvold says: “We’re concerned about Eni’s management of operations on the Goliat field, and have now given it notice of an order,” says . “This notice and our concern build on both individual findings and an overall assessment of the position.”
The PSA started "extensive supervisory" activity on Eni in December 2016, looking at the firm's risk management and prevention of undesirable incidents and accidents on the Goliat FPSO. "Information which has emerged from it so far forms an important part of the basis for the notice of an order which has now been given," says the PSA, which is to continue its supervision in 2017.
“We see there’s been good progress in the dialogue between employees and management, and Eni has established a project for improvements to the organization and operational conditions as a consequence of many earlier conditions and incidents,” says Myhrvold.
“At the same time, we see that Eni has revealed a limited ability to implement existing plans. At the same time, constant new findings are being made and weaknesses identified on the facility, in the management system and in the organization.
“It’s a matter of concern that a great deal of work related to completion, modifications and simultaneous production remains to be done on Goliat. Our order therefore requires Eni to reassess its plans and to ensure the necessary capacity and competence for the total volume of work on the field.
“We’ll be continuing to keep a close eye on Eni and Goliat in the time to come. Our supervisory activity directed at the company’s risk management forms an important part of this follow-up.”
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