Snorre expansion project audit reveals room for improvement

Norwegian offshore safety body, the Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA), has found three improvement points during an audit of subsea deliveries for the Snorre expansion project offshore Norway.

PSA said on Friday that the audit of subsea deliveries on the Equinor-operated Snorre expansion project was conducted on November 15 and 16, 2018.

The objective of the audit was to verify that the design engineering of the subsea production system and christmas-tree comply with the company’s and regulatory requirements.

The PSA added that there was a sub-objective of monitoring how the project was exercising its supervisory duty in respect of the supplier.

The audit did not identify any non-conformities, but it did find three improvement points regarding the system for detecting leaks, risk reduction and continuous improvement, and instrumentation and monitoring.

Equinor was told to report on how the improvement points would be addressed by January 25, 2019.

Norwegian authorities approved the continued use of the Snorre A and Snorre B platforms through 2040 back in October.

Also, the PSA announced the results of a drilling and emergency preparedness audit on the Snorre B platform in early September.

The Snore Expansion Project

Snorre Expansion plans to start production in 2021 and will be operated and maintained by the existing Snorre organization in Stavanger, while supplies will still be handled by Fjordbase in Florø. The project will ensure operation of the Snorre field for 25 more years.

Partners in the Snorre field are Equinor (33.27%), Petoro (30%), ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Norway (17.44%), Idemitsu Petroleum Norge (9.6%), DEA Norge (8.57%), and Var Energi (1.1%).

The new plan entails 24 new wells, 12 for production and 12 for injection, and six new subsea templates for production and alternating water/gas injection.

The plan also includes pipelines and umbilicals between the subsea templates and Snorre A platform. Also, the plan involves upgrading of Snorre A for reception of production from the subsea templates and for supplying injection water and gas to the subsea templates.

To remind, Equinor informed that the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy approved the plan for development and operation (PDO) for the Snorre Expansion Project in July 2018.

The Norwegian oil major submitted the PDO to the Norwegian authorities in December 2017.

Offshore Energy Today Staff