During the period of November 26-28, 2008, the Petroleum Safety Authority Norway (PSA) conducted an audit of technical and operational factors related to emergency preparedness and helicopter operations on the mobile facility Deepsea Atlantic.

The facility was at the Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering Co Ltd (DSME) shipyard in Goeje in South Korea. The audit was linked to Odfjell Drilling's (Odfjell's) application for an Acknowledgement of Compliance (AoC) for the mobile drilling facility Deepsea Atlantic.

The Deepsea Atlantic is a mobile drilling facility under construction at the DSME shipyard in South Korea. The plan is to use the drilling facility for activities on the Norwegian shelf, with StatoilHydro as operator.

The purpose of the audit was to verify that management and technical aspects within the relevant technical disciplines on the facility are in compliance with regulatory requirements.

The audit was conducted on the basis of information received from Odfjell Drilling in connection with the AoC application, interviews of personnel in the operations organisation, as well as verifications on board the facility.

So far, only improvement items have been identified. Some of the factors cannot be verified until the facility has been fully commissioned.

PSA plan to implement another audit before the facility is put to use. Improvement items have been identified for factors related to competence, training and drills, inspection of breathing air, lifeboats, MOB boat, firefighter equipment and storage of rescue equipment.

Tags: Petroleum Safety Authority