Three of Norway’s regulators have found nonconformities from regulations, following their joint investigation of a crude oil spill at Statoil’s Statfjord’s OLS B loading buoy that occurred last year.
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Image from Statoil. |
Thee Petroleum Safety Authority Norway (PSA), the Norwegian Environment Agency and the Norwegian Coastal Administration have together completed their investigation of the spill on 8 October 2015, in which nonconformities from the regulations have been identified.
“The investigation has identified nonconformities related to applying for permission to deploy chemical dispersants and to deficiencies in decision processes and change management,” the PSA said in a statement.
The spill occurred during loading of crude from the Statoil-operated Statfjord A facility to the Hilda Knutsenshuttle tanker. An estimated 6-7 cu m of oil leaked to the sea from the loading hose, the PSA said.
According to the investigation, wind and waves quickly broke down the slick and contributed to natural dispersion of the oil in the water column. The spill occurred as a result of corrosion in one segment of the loading hose.
Following the spill, Statoil said in October that loading to the tanker was stopped and supply to the pipe and loading system from Statfjord A was closed, however, production was operating normally.
On 19 September, Statoil, along with Centrica and ExxonMobil, and Tord Lien, the minister of petroleum and energy, celebrated the 5 billion boe mark that had been delivered by Statfjord since first oil in 1979.
The Statfjord field has been developed with the Statfjord A, B and C production platforms. Statfjord A began production on 24 November 1979. Statfjord B followed on 5 November 1982, and Statfjord C on 26 June 1985.
The Norwegian share of the field lies in blocks 33/9 and 33/12 in production license 037, while the British part is in UK block 211/25 in licenses 104 and 293.
The field will remain in production until 2025 and possibilities to further expand the lifetime are being looked into.
Statfjord is one of the oldest producing fields on the Norwegian continental shelf, and the largest oil discovery in the North Sea.
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