SHORT TERM SAFETY STEPS OUTLINED FOR EKOFISK FIELD

Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) has issued an order to Phillips Petroleum Co. Norway setting out requirements for short term safety work on the tank platform in Ekofisk field in the North Sea. Meantime, field installations are taking shape throughout Norway for a scheduled 1996 start of production from East Troll gas field in Blocks 31/2, 3, 5, and 6 in the Northwegian North Sea. Norske Shell AS is development operator. NPD told Phillips to: Carry out a study of potential problems in the

May 31, 1993

3 min read

Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) has issued an order to Phillips Petroleum Co. Norway setting out requirements for short term safety work on the tank platform in Ekofisk field in the North Sea.

Meantime, field installations are taking shape throughout Norway for a scheduled 1996 start of production from East Troll gas field in Blocks 31/2, 3, 5, and 6 in the Northwegian North Sea. Norske Shell AS is development operator.

EKOFISK ORDER

NPD told Phillips to:

Carry out a study of potential problems in the tank platform processing operations by Sept. 1.
Install by Jan. 1, 1994, a direct escape route from the tank platform's control room to the tank barrier and build extra fire protection on the control room's outside walls.
Arrange critical maintenance activities by Dec. 1.

NPD is concerned about subsidence in the Ekofisk complex centered on Norwegian North Sea Block 2/4. The tank platform was protected by a concrete barrier after subsidence was first discovered, but this sank below a level thought sufficient to protect the platform from a theoretical 100 year wave.

The directorate asked for short and long term safety proposals from Phillips last October (OGJ, Oct. 19, 1992, p. 42). NPD's order stems from dissatisfaction with short term proposals.

"These are projects which Phillips Norway has recommended being carried out and which the company has been planning for some time," Phillips said.

"Phillips has also come up with a number of temporary solutions for the period up to the implementation of the long term solution. Extensive risk analyses were performed in connection with this, concluding that the risk level on the tank is within the limits of acceptance criteria defined by the company."

Long term safety proposals, to be submitted by Phillips to NPD July 1, may involve moving the entire tank platform (OGJ, Apr. 12, p. 27).

TROLL GAS FIELD

The 370 m high gravity base structure for East Troll is being built by Norwegian Contractors at Gandsfjord, near Stavanger. A Norske Shell official said slipforming of the shafts has reached 98 m. The structure will be towed to a deep fjord at.Vats in mid-June for completion by the end of 1994.

Living quarters are under construction by Westmarin AS at Kristiansand, with completion scheduled for April 1994. Aker AS is assembling the deck at Stord for completion by the end of 1994. A drilling package is being built by Hitec-Dreco AS, Stavanger.

First delivery of steel pipe is due this summer from Mannesmann Handel AG, Dusseldorf, and a Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding Co. Ltd./Sumitomo Corp. combine. Pipeline installation will be carried out in 1995 by European Marine Contractors Ltd., Kingston-upon-Thames, U.K.

East Troll holds estimated reserves of 30 tcf of gas and 190 million bbl of condensate.

West Troll oil field is under development by operator Norsk Hydro AS. It too is due on stream in 1996 (OGJ, Feb. 1, p. 23).