Norway’s Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA) has carried out an audit of Equinor and the fabrication of the subsea Christmas tree for the Snorre expansion project.
The objective of the audit was to ensure that fabrication of the subsea Christmas tree for the Snorre expansion project complied with the company’s own requirements and requirements in the regulations. A sub-goal was to follow up how the project is undertaking its supervisory duty in respect of its supplier – TechnipFMC.
The audit, conducted in February this year did not identify any non-conformities, however, the PSA observed two areas with potential for improvement related to follow-up of suppliers and qualification of materials.
Snorre Expansion Project
In July, the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy approved the revised plan for development and operation (PDO) for further development of the Snorre field, called the Snorre Expansion Project (SEP).
The SEP is a major subsea development, and the largest improved recovery project on the Norwegian Shelf today. The project represents an investment that will contribute to 25 more years of production on Snorre.
The project comprises installation of six well templates with 24 wells that will be tied back to the Snorre A platform. The plan includes an option for further expansion with additional well templates. When production started on Snorre, the expected field life was up to 2011-2014. With the contribution from SEP, calculations show that the field can have profitable production all the way through 2040.