Eni’s Goliat FPSO under scrutiny by offshore safety watchdog

Following two notices of order and a completed audit report of electrical safety on the Goliat FPSO, Norway’s offshore safety body, the Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA), has issued a formal order to Eni.

The PSA conducted an audit between September 19-28, to review electrical safety and the person in charge of the electrical facilities on board the Goliat FPSO, located in the Barents Sea.

After the audit was complete, Eni was given the first notice of order to complete the systematic survey of potential ignition sources related to electrical motors with Ex construction and to implement the necessary measures to reduce the threat of ignition as far as possible before production resumed.

Last week, the PSA issued the second notice of order after noting further serious breaches of regulations, following a completed audit report.

The order

Based on the identified non-conformities, the PSA on Monday gave Eni a formal order by stating that the company must review the its system for following up identified non-conformities so that the non-conformities are corrected, their causes clarified, and corrective measures initiated to prevent the non-conformities from reoccurring. The effect of the measures must be evaluated.

Eni was ordered to review all identified non-conformities related to ignition source control as well as review non-conformities closed without adequate correction to ensure necessary handling of the non-conformities and adequate correction.

In a separate part of the notice of order, the PSA added that Eni must conduct a review of the management system for the electrical discipline area and implement the measures necessary to ensure that roles and responsibilities are defined and understood and necessary procedures, guidelines, and instructions drawn up and are complied with and that these are adapted to the extent necessary to site-specific conditions on board.

Also, existing training programs need to be evaluated and measures implemented to ensure that relevant training modules are tailored to and implemented for each position on board.

To clarify, an order is an administrative decision and a strongly preventive instrument which is legally binding on the recipient, in this case, Eni. Before the PSA issues an order, it usually sends a notice of order to the affected companies which is neither an instrument nor a notice of sanctions.

The regulator concluded by stating that a scheduled plan must be presented by December 11 which would ensure the company complied with this order. The deadline for complying with the order is March 1, 2018.