Offshore staff
OSLO, Norway – Equinor must take actions after Norway’s Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA) completed its investigation of the Johan Castberg FPSO construction program.
Johan Castberg is in the Barents Sea, 240 km (149 mi) northwest of Hammerfest. The planned start-up date, under the plan for development and operation, is 4Q 2022. Sembcorp Marine in Singapore is building the FPSO hull with integrated living quarters.
The PSA first became aware of weld-quality errors in the hull last year, and extensive repairs are now needed. The investigation revealed the following issues:
- Sembcorp Marine had not previously built new offshore production facilities for Equinor. According to the PSA, its experience was primarily with ship repair.
- The contract specified the Tuas Boulevard Yard for fabrication and assembly, but during the first year of construction, fabrication of the living quarters and some of the hull modules was transferred to three other yards.
- Equinor’s follow-up of the construction contract was based on a desire for a ‘lean’ project organization, despite being aware of quality, capacity, and expertise challenges at Sembcorp Marine.
- The fabricator underestimated the scope of the FEED, although milestones were still maintained.
- Inadequate welding expertise and quality control, with Equinor failing to address the problem sufficiently early. Also, non-compliance with the project’s inspection and test plan.
- Various identified risks remained unresolved for a long period, with the seriousness growing in some cases. Quality challenges related to welding and consequent delays initially escalated into enterprise risk in connection with COVID-19 pandemic.
The quality issues meant that the scope of inspecting hull welds rose to 100%. It now appears that the associated repairs will delay completion by a year, with the project likely to come onstream in 4Q 2023, and with a consequential reduction in present value due to delayed earnings.
The PSA identified nonconformities in connection with risk reduction; management of project execution; qualification and follow-up of the contractor; and application of experience in dimensioning own follow-up.
It also highlighted a need for improvement in the information provided to the licensees and verification of fatigue analyses.
Equinor’s deadline for compliance with the order is Oct. 1, 2021.
06/01/2021
