Offshore safety bosses in Norway today criticised BP’s Norwegian North Sea management following an investigation into on the Valhall platform.
The Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA) said it found “serious non-conformities” in BP’s management systems, following the fire on the installation in July.
Production was halted and 638 people were safety evacuated from the platform, operated by BP 180 miles off southern Norway following the fire.
The PSA’s investigation found the fire was started after a crane engine overheated, a spark arrestor failed and a spark from it was blown into a cold vent system where it ignited flammable gasses, according to a PSA report.
It also found there were difficulties putting out the fire, which resulted in having to use water from a standby vessel and it taking one hour and 37 minutes to extinguish.
The report added that no one was injured but that, under slightly different circumstances, what was a “minor” blaze could have escalated and “created a serious position on the installation, with personal injuries or loss of life”.
It concluded that there had been a number of “serious regulatory breaches” of management systems, including lack of maintenance, deficient maintenance management inadequacies in risk identification and deficient barrier management.
A spokesman for BP said the report confirmed BP’s findings into the cause of the fire.
He added: “A number of corrective actions have since been taken to ensure crane maintenance is upgraded and that there is no repeat, either on the Valhall platform or other BP Norway facilities.
“The company is always committed to learning from incidents in an effort to continually improve its performance.”
The field had been producing about 42,000 barrels a day at the time of the fire on July 13.
US oil firm Hess is the majority owner of the field with 64%, with BP as operator and owner of the remaining 36% stake.