PSA to Investigate Incident on West Venture Drilling Facility

The PSA has decided to instigate an investigation of a dropped object incident on the West Venture mobile drilling facility on 23 March 2015. The incident occurred on West Venture's drilling deck at 23:25 on Monday, 23 March. A 90 kilo coupling sleeve fell six metres from a rotary table onto the top of a blowout preventer (BOP). Two people were on the top of the BOP when the incident occurred. No personal injuries resulting from the incident have been reported.

West Venture is operated by North Atlantic Drilling (NAD) and is currently working for Statoil on the Troll field.

The PSA has decided to instigate an investigation of the incident. The objects of the investigation include clarifying the chain of events and identifying proximate and underlying causes. The investigation will result in a report that will be published on ptil.no.