The Petroleum Safety Authority Norway (PSA) has carried out an audit of Var Energi focused on electrical facilities and associated installations on Goliat FPSO.
The audit was conducted from 19 to 23 October 2020.
Objective
The objective of the audit was to monitor how Vår Energi complies with the technical, operational and organisational regulations for electrical facilities and associated installations. In this audit, we paid particular attention to the company’s follow-up of previous orders and non-conformities within the domain of electrical facilities and associated systems.
Result
Our impression was that Var Energi has taken steps within a number of the topics of this audit, and that this is apparent from working practices and the installations on board. We also had the impression that the company has improved its approach to addressing identified weaknesses.
However, it was noted that a number of deficiencies remain, and a serious non-conformity concerning ignition source disconnection was detected.
After the audit, on 4 November 2020, a meeting was held between the PSA and Var Energi concerning measures the company had taken to rectify non-conformities relating to ignition source disconnection. The company gave a presentation of how they had systematically reviewed the emergency shutdown system (ESD) in order to reduce uncertainty concerning this system’s functionality and ability to perform the requisite actions. They also gave a presentation of weaknesses identified as a result of the company’s review and of corrective measures that had been implemented. The impression was that the company has had a proactive and systematic approach to ensuring the ESD system’s functionality after we identified the weaknesses described under item 5.1.1. of the report.
All observations made during the audit are based on spot checks and consequently do not necessarily provide the whole picture. It was noted that the company had a proactive approach to observations, and implemented corrections to some observations while the audit was underway on board. For descriptions of the non-conformities, we refer to chapter 5 of the report.
Follow-up of previous non-conformities
In line with our notice of audit, we have verified how the company has addressed individual aspects of previously issued orders, non-conformities identified and improvement points observed. In question were: the report of 22 October 2015 following an audit of electrical facilities on Goliat FPSO; the report of 31 October 2017 following an audit of Eni Norge concerning electrical safety and the person responsible for electrical facilities on Goliat FPSO; and the report of 29 November 2018 following an operational audit of electrical facilities on Goliat FPSO. The scope of these reports is large and our verifications were carried out on the basis of spot checks.
Our spot checks revealed that the company has not corrected all previously identified non-conformities as expected. However, our impression was that the company had intended to correct all non-conformities, but had encountered difficulties due to their extent and complexity.
Non-conformities
The audit identified non-conformities within the following areas:
Ignition source disconnection
Overpressure protection of rooms
Portable non-electrical equipment
Non-conformity handling
Follow-up of electrical installations
Maintenance of electrical facilities and installations
Work in and operation of electrical facilities
Technical operating documents
What happens next?
We have asked Var Energi to report on how the non-conformities will be addressed. The deadline for this is set at 22 February 2021.
