Norwegian safety regulators said they saw a “fresh” rise in the number of cable and anchor incidents in late 2008, a year when rig and ship owners heeded safety advice and bought new anchor chains.

The Petroleum Safety Authority said it fixed up an old rule book on mooring safety in 2007, but late in 2008, mooring incidents increased despite the new chains and anchors.

The occurrances — from pipelines punctured by an anchor to ships violently tossed by the weight of rig anchors — show “a continued need for improvement in this area,” the PSA said. The safety agency did not explain why the trouble started just as new safety equipment was put in place.

The gigantic chains and anchors used offshore have long been a threat to crews handling the gear, but a danger to piplines, wells and other subsea kit implies a wider danger to the environmenet and humans.

Mooring equipment has been linked to some of the North Sea’s greatest offshore tragedies, and the PSA has launched a blitz of safety seminars, audits and work with martime experts and classifications societies after recent offshore tragedies.

The PSA circular focuses on maintenance and training and the early placement of anchor systems. Safety regulators hope to halve the number of mooring-related incidents in 2009.

Tags: Bourbon Offshore, DNV