PSA Probe Finds Areas for Improvement on Snorre Expansion Project

Norway’s Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA) has carried out an audit of subsea deliveries for Equinor’s Snorre expansion project in the northern part of the North Sea.

The objective of the audit, performed last month, was to verify that the design engineering of the subsea production system and Christmas tree comply with the company’s own and the regulatory requirements.

There was a sub-objective of monitoring how the project is exercising its supervisory duty in respect of the supplier.

According to PSA, the audit did not identify any non-conformities, however three improvement points were identified in connection with system for detecting leaks – performance requirements;
risk reduction and continuous improvement; and instrumentation and monitoring.

Equinor has been given a deadline of January 25, 2019 to report on how the improvement points will be addressed.

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.