Norway’s Petroleum Safety Authority has found Maersk Drilling’s Norwegian business unit to be deficient in risk management and emergency preparedness with regard to its jack-up rig Maersk Inspirer.
The ultra-modern rig is currently being used to produce the Volve field in Norwegian waters, some 225km from Stavanger.
The PSA has conducted an audit of risk management and the handling of barriers in relation to emergency preparedness and process integrity on the rig and identified 11 nonconformities and four areas in need of improvement relating to:
o Deficiencies in activities and processes which are necessary to meet the regulatory requirements relating to risk management,
o Unclear responsibilities relating to risk management,
o Deficiencies in the barrier strategy,
o Performance standards for Mærsk Inspirer which do not reflect the requirements related to barriers that the Volve production module fitted to the rig introduces,
o Deficiencies in physical barriers, emergency preparedness and maintenance.
The PSA said that it has given Maersk Drilling Norge until August 1 to respond to these nonconformities and to how they will be handled.
Described by Maersk as a one-off, the Maersk Inspirer-Volve project began in 2006 as the largest rig project ever undertaken by the AP Moller-Maersk Group.
The rig was built in South Korea. Aibel of Norway designed the topside facilities at its Oslo offices and in Singapore, the modules were built at Map Tha Put in Thailand and transported to Haugesund shipyards in Norway for modification and integration with the rig itself. Oil production began in February 2008.