DNV GL has been awarded a five-year contract to provide in-service verification work for Wintershall Noordzee's RAVN and A6-A platforms.
The two platforms based in the North Sea are the unmanned RAVN in the Danish sector and manned A6-A in the German sector.
RAVN is the first field in Denmark that Wintershall Noordzee will transition to the production phase as operator. The A6-A platform is undergoing a major overhaul, with WINZ extending it to include an oil processing plant alongside the current gas condensate facilities.
DNV GL’s work scope will cover the Independent Verification of Management of Safety and Environmentally Critical Elements (SECE’s). This will include independent verification activities as detailed in the Written Scheme of Verification for RAVN and the A6-A installations. This involves a combination of onshore review of assurance records (i.e. certification, maintenance activities and integrity management activities), physical survey and witness of offshore/site activities. The main focus will be on the onshore review activities with a tailored offshore scope.
The work undertaken will be based on new EU Directive (2013/30/EU) on Safety of Offshore Oil and Gas Operations which aims to reduce the risk of major accidents associated with offshore oil and gas operations. The Directive requires owners and operators to prevent and mitigate the impact of major accident hazards through the implementation of a systematic and effective approach to risk management.
WINZ’s Justin Jansen and Richard Heijkoop from the Operations Engineering Department stated that “We have chosen DNV GL as supplier for the independent verification services because their approach to the project aligns very strongly with our way of working. DNV GL has also been offering these services for the offshore market for more than 30 years in Denmark so that really gave us confidence in their experience and credibility.”
Ben Oudman, Director and Country Manager Netherlands, DNV GL - Oil & Gas stated: “We are very excited to have won this contract with Wintershall Noordzee and begin the work on these platforms. I believe DNV GL’s ability to deliver the combination of Danish, German and Dutch expertise will be a real benefit to the whole project.”