Malaysian firm Hibiscus Petroleum has given clarity on a health and safety prohibition notice served to Petrofac.
Oilfield services firm Petrofac confirmed this week it has lodged an appeal against a Health and Safety Executive (HSE) notice served on its Anasuria floating production vessel in February.
Hibiscus has confirmed that the prohibition notice was in relation to the HSE’s inspection of the Anasuria FPSO’s flare tip, and that a temporary production stoppage was put in place.
Work was halted for a total of six days, during which time Hibiscus claims “decisive action was taken” by the duty holder Petrofac and Anasuria Hibiscus UK (AHUK) to “mitigate” the issue.
Anasuria Operating Company (AOC), a joint venture between Hibiscus Petroleum and Ping Petroleum, is exploring a number of North Sea prospects in and around the Anasuria Cluster, located 110 miles east of Aberdeen.
Petrofac has been appointed well operator by AOC, which bought the assets from Shell and ExxonMobil in 2016 for close to £70m..
A spokesman for Hibiscus confirmed that work was halted as a consequence of the prohibition notice served in February, adding that action was taken to “mitigate any potential risk.”
He added: “There were no injuries or loss of containment as a result of this matter.
“Our understanding is that Petrofac is appealing the issuance of the prohibition notice by the HSE.
“This temporary production halt is not expected to impact our crude oil offtake schedule or have any material effect on the earnings of the Hibiscus Petroleum group for the financial year ending 30 June 2019.
“We wish to emphasise that Hibiscus Petroleum, AHUK and Petrofac’s priority is always the safety and welfare of all employees and contractors.”
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