The audit was conducted from 26 to 29 May 2026.

Background

Yggdrasil is a large-scale development project that includes manned, unmanned and periodically manned facilities, with control and monitoring to be carried out from a central control room onshore. This represents a significant change from traditional operating models, in which such activities have primarily been carried out on board the facilities.

This entails changes to the usual work processes, lines of responsibility and interactions, and places greater demands on how the company ensures comprehensive management and control of its operations. The level of automation and digitalisation is increasing, which affects both technical solutions and human interaction.

Objective

The objective of the audit was to assess how Aker BP is establishing a comprehensive and robust solution for managing the Yggdrasil area, where monitoring and control are to be carried out from a central control room onshore during commissioning, planned start-up and operation.

A further objective was to assess how the OT architecture and the digital infrastructure were designed to ensure stable and secure communication between the facilities and shore, as well as how the emergency shutdown system (ESD) was designed to bring the facilities to a safe state even in the event of disruptions, outages or other undesirable incidents that could affect communication and safety functions.

The audit also aimed to assess how user-technology interaction was organised in the central control room, and how increased automation and digitalisation affect the operators’ working environment, interactions and situational awareness, as well as how the technical and organisational solutions support safe and efficient operations.

Result

The audit identified four non-conformities in the following areas:

  • Emergency Disconnect Function (EDF)
  • Qualification of automated sequences
  • Use of mapping and analysis as a basis for decision-making
  • Employee participation in digitalisation projects

What happens now?

We have asked Aker BP to report to us by 31 August 2026 on how the non-conformities will be addressed.