PSA Lists Knarr FPSO Project Flaws (Norway)

The Petroleum Safety Authority Norway (PSA), from 20 March to 11 April 2013, carried out an audit of Teekay Petrojarl (TKPJ) and the company’s design and construction of Knarr FPSO.

The activity covered the areas of process, technical safety, barrier and maintenance management.

Objective

The objective of the audit was to verify that the measures following the previous audit on barrier management had been implemented, and verifying how the results from the work processes with further development of the systems had been used in the project.

Result

Nonconformities were identified in connection with procedures and guidelines; barrier strategies and performance standards; design of the process safety system; impact assessment in the event of a riser leak; analysis of consequences of fire; labelling; preservation; maintenance

Furthermore, improvement items were identified in connection with the project’s verification and follow-up plans.

Knarr

The Knarr field (previously known as Jordbaer) is located in the northern part of the North Sea, about 120 kilometres west of Florø. The field will be developed with seabed facilities tied in to a floating production facility (FPSO).

The FPSO unit, which will have a maximum design production capacity of 63,000 barrels per day (bbls/d), is scheduled to deliver during the first quarter of 2014, at which time it will commence operations under its charter contract with BG for a firm period of either six or ten years plus extension options for a total period of up to 20 years. Under the terms of the agreement, BG has until the end of 2012 to decide on the firm period of the charter contract.

TKPJ will own and operate the facility, which requires an application for an Acknowledgement of Compliance (AoC) to the PSA.