The audit was conducted from 29 November to 3 December 2021.

Objective

The objective of the audit was to verify that Equinor's management and follow-up of barriers at the Oseberg field centre (Oseberg A, B and D), whether technical, organisational or operational, comply with the company's and the authorities' requirements.

Result

The audit identified four non-conformities. These concerned:

  • Consequences of worst credible process fire (WCPF)
  • Lack of independence between emergency shutdown and process safety systems for well valves
  • Incident notification procedure
  • Lack of training in and verification of performance requirements for operational and organisational barrier elements

We also observed six factors we have chosen to categorise as improvement points. These were:

  • Deficiencies in process safety – the response time for some process shut-off valves is too long relative to estimated need
  • Deficiencies in process safety – weaknesses in the design of overpressure protection
  • Follow-up of measures in Synergy
  • Frequency of TTS verification at the Oseberg field centre
  • Evacuation routes
  • Fire doors

What happens now?

We have asked Equinor to report on how the non-conformities and improvement points will be addressed.