Our Arctic Neighbors: Norwegians anxious about Deepwater Horizon

Norway’s Petroleum Safety Authority has been inundated with questions about what it’s going to do about offshore activities in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico, the agency said in a release May 4. Transocean, the company that owns the Deepwater Horizon, has five rigs in Norwegian waters: the Polar Pioneer, the Transocean Searcher, the Transocean Arctic, the Transocean Winner and the Transocean Leader.

“The PSA has received a stream of inquiries relating to these events, particularly from the media,” the release said. “At present these questions primarily focus on the possibility of anything similar happening on the Norwegian continental shelf. Others concern comparisons between Norwegian and U.S. regulations and safety levels, information on barriers and experience with well control equipment such as blowout preventers.”

As the PSA has no information on the causes of the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, it can’t provide any specific assessments or comparisons with Norwegian requirements or conditions, the agency said.

“As it becomes clear what went wrong, the PSA will continuously take the action required if the incident proves to be relevant for Norwegian safety work and/or regulations,” the release said. “As and when required, the PSA will implement measures in Norway at the appropriate time. Information on this will naturally be provided.”

Companies operating on the Norwegian continental shelf need to keep continuously updated about the Gulf of Mexico incident and ensure that its lessons are implemented in their own organization, the PSA said.

“Operators in Norway have an independent duty to work responsibly, and to conduct constant risk assessments based on all available knowledge,” it added.

It would not be appropriate for the Norwegian authorities to comment on regulations and safety levels in the petroleum activities of other countries, the PSA said.

“Over time, the PSA’s organization will unfortunately be unable to handle the large volume of questions related to the U.S. incident,” the release said. “Neither the information department nor other specialist teams at the agency have sufficient capacity to investigate, assess and provide answers to all the questions being put about this tragedy.”

—Sarah Hurst