Audit of Valemon

Statoil is the operator of the Valemon field, which is in the northern North Sea, west of the Kvitebjørn field. The field has been developed using a fixed production facility. Condensate from the field will be transported to Mongstad via Kvitebjørn, while the gas will be piped to Heimdal for onward transport to the UK or the European mainland.

Once drilling of the well is complete, the plan is for the Valemon facility to be remote-controlled from onshore, a first on the Norwegian Continental Shelf. Production at Valemon began on 3 January 2015. 

The PSA has carried out an audit of Statoil's management of the emergency preparedness, cranes and lifting domains at Valemon. The audit was carried out between 17 and 20 November 2014 on board the Valemon facility and on the West Elara jack-up drilling facility, which is drilling wells in the field. Prior to this, a start-up meeting was held at Statoil's premises on 10 November 2014.

The audit revealed non-conformities relating to:

• Risk and emergency preparedness management
• Module training for response teams
• Training in the use of lifting facilities
• Governing documents for lifting facilities and equipment
• Documentation for lifting facilities and equipment
• Materials handling plan
• Control of temporary lifting arrangements
• Control of wire ropes for offshore cranes
• Control of scaffolding
• Bumpers and protective structures on the provisioning deck

Improvement points were identified in connection with:

• Scaffolding in evacuation routes
• Equipment cabinet for search and rescue teams
• "Tetra" communications system for crane operations
   

Non-conformity:
Entails that a condition is assessed as not complying with a regulatory requirement.

Improvement point:
Entails that we have identified a deficiency, without there being sufficient grounds for determining a breach of regulatory requirements.