|
Italian drilling rig not ready for Arctic Norwegian inspectors find sloppy, risky practices on rig intended for Eni to use in Barents Sea during audit at shipyard By Sarah Hurst For Petroleum News
Norway’s Petroleum Safety Authority, or PSA, has identified numerous problems with a drilling rig that has been built by Eni subsidiary Saipem for use by Eni Norge in the Barents Sea.
PSA audited technical safety, crane and lifting operations, working environment and maintenance management on the Scarabeo 8 rig during the period June 8-11, the agency said in a release July 29.
Carabeo 8 is a semisubmersible dynamically positioned drilling facility of the Moss CS 50 type, PSA said. The hull was constructed at the Sevmash shipyard in Severovdinsk, Russia, and fabrication and outfitting is being carried out at the Fincantieri shipyard in Palermo, Italy.
“The purpose of the audit was to increase understanding of the regulations through advice and guidance on some of the challenges the PSA has experienced during the processing of Acknowledgement of Compliance for other new-build projects,” PSA said. “We have seen a need for such guidance, particularly in players building new facilities at yards with little or no experience of Norwegian regulations.”
The facility was characterized by extensive construction work being carried out on board, PSA reported. “Orderliness and tidiness were very poor on the facility, and subsequently the preservation of equipment and components was substandard. PSA is very worried about this as it may have consequences for safety and the working environment during the start-up and operations phase, as well as higher maintenance costs in the future,” the agency said.
Project behind schedule The project is behind schedule and although philosophy documents for the safety systems on board have been drawn up, it is not clear which solutions are to be chosen for all of the systems and what these are based on, PSA found.
“We discovered that panels, cable trays and other equipment in electrical rooms, engine room and pump room were placed in such a way that access for maintenance and evacuation is obstructed. Furthermore, we registered some items which are not maintained in accordance with the formulated ‘installation practices,’” PSA said.
PSA also identified extensive blind zone problems with the handling of materials using cranes. The view from the operator cabins on the offshore cranes and the knuckle boom cranes to loading areas, storage areas and down hatches was limited or completely obstructed.
“We identified some weaknesses in the project management of working environment conditions,” PSA continued. “This is mainly tied to working environment studies which have not been carried out or were insufficiently carried out. We also pointed out some deficiencies in connection with the layout and choice of technical solutions.”
| 