Safety audit finds room for improvement on Johan Castberg FPSO

Norwegian offshore safety watchdog, the Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA), has found irregularities during an audit of Equinor’s design and fabrication of the hull and living quarters for the Johan Castberg FPSO.

The offshore safety body said on Monday that the audit was conducted from April 8 to 10, 2019.

The audit aimed to verify that the design engineering and fabrication of the hull and living quarters for the Johan Castberg FPSO was meeting the company’s requirements as well as the regulatory requirements.

The PSA added that there was a sub-objective of monitoring how the company was fulfilling its supervisory duty in respect of the suppliers.

The safety watchdog identified one non-conformity relating to non-conformity handling in the management system.

Two improvement points were also found in connection with the company’s follow-up and management of projection execution.

Equinor was told to report on how the non-conformity and improvement points would be addressed by June 28, 2019, at the latest.

The Johan Castberg (formerly Skrugard) field is situated approximately 100 kilometers north of the Snøhvit-field in the Barents Sea. The field will be developed with an FPSO production vessel. The development also includes 30 wells, ten subsea templates, and two satellite structures and will cost around NOK 49 billion ($5,6 billion).

The 200-meter long FPSO vessel will be producing on the Johan Castberg field for 30 years from the planned production start in 2022.

It is worth reminding that the PSA recently took a closer look at the Johan Castberg FPSO turret design and fabrication. The offshore safety body said in April that no non-conformities were found but that it did identify six improvement points during an audit.

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