Offshore staff

OSLO -- The Petroleum Safety Authority Norway (PSA) has sent a notification of order to the Alvheim field licensees following two incidents with major accident potential. The incidents occurred on the Alvheim FPSO on Jan. 16 and 23, and both involved overfilling of the flare drum.

The operator, Marathon Petroleum Norge AS (Marathon), did not report the incidents to the PSA as required under Section 11 of the Information Duty Regulations. The PSA received information about the incidents from representatives of the safety delegate service on Alvheim on June 23.

On June 26, The PSA conducted a meeting with the management of Marathon and operations contractor Maersk Drilling Norge AS (Maersk) in which the companies gave their account of the incidents, how they had handled the incidents so far, and their assessment of the need for further measures.

The PSA has now notified the licenses that they must “conduct a joint review and evaluation of the framework conditions and form of operations for Alvheim to ensure that the operation of Alvheim can be carried out in a manner which ensures that central requirements in the HSE regulations, including handling of major accident risk, are safeguarded.”

This work must be completed and the licensees' conclusions submitted to the PSA by Sept. 1.

07/01/2009