Noble Drilling and Equinor – Noble Lloyd Noble – planning and execution of managed pressure drilling at Valemon

The audit was conducted from 9 to 14 April 2023 and included both Equinor as operator of the Valemon field and Noble Drilling Norway AS as drilling contractor and supplier of MPD services.

Objective

The objective of the audit was to verify whether Equinor and Noble Drilling, together with their suppliers, complied with regulatory requirements for the planning, risk assessment and execution of managed pressure drilling and well activities on the Valemon field. This included verifying that all participants in the activity are aware of and understand their own responsibilities.

Result

We identified one non-conformity relating to Equinor and minimum staffing and competence requirements.

We also identified three improvement points concerning:

• Well pressure management during mud pump run-up – Noble Drilling
• Risk reduction and testing in the event of software updates – Noble Drilling
• Follow-up of Noble Drilling’s systems – Equinor

What happens next?

We have asked the companies to report to us by 15 August 2023 on how the non-conformity will be addressed, and to give us their assessment of the improvement points identified.