Eni Scrambles to Restart Major Arctic Oil Field
09 September 2016 - 4:06AM
Dow Jones News
By Kjetil Malkenes Hovland and Eric Sylvers
OSLO -- Norway is pressuring Italy's Eni SpA to improve
operations at the world's northernmost offshore oil platform after
the Arctic development was shut down and evacuated over a power
failure last month.
The project, known as Goliat, is testing a new circular platform
concept in a development 300 miles north of the Arctic Circle in
the Barents Sea. It is partially run by hydropower via a cable to
the mainland, a mandate imposed by the Norwegian government to
reduce the platform's emissions.
The 100,000 barrels a day field started pumping in March but has
been plagued by problems. The most recent Aug. 26 shut down was the
second in three months, causing the evacuation of dozens of
workers.
In April, Eni reported a gas leak at Goliat. A month later, it
reported that smoke had been detected in a generator. And in June,
the PSA launched an investigation into an accident where a worker
was hit by a steel wire and lifted by helicopter to the mainland
with a head injury.
"Over time there's been disturbing information about repeated
errors and a lot of incidents at Goliat," said Anniken Hauglie,
Norway's minister of labor and social affairs. "We don't accept any
slack in oil-industry safety, despite a downturn and falling
revenues," Ms. Hauglie said.
Norway's Petroleum Safety Authority -- a government agency
overseeing the oil and gas sector -- says Eni must prepare a plan
to fix the problems at Goliat before the rig could be restarted.
Eni presented a preliminary plan on Monday and plans to offer a
final one on Friday.
The company has given no explanation for the power failure last
month. In a statement to The Wall Street Journal, the company said
production would restart as soon as its improvement measures were
carried out and the Petroleum Safety Authority gives the green
light.
Goliat is 65% owned by Eni with the rest controlled by Norway's
Statoil ASA, which declined to comment.
The Bellona Foundation, a Norwegian nongovernmental
organization, produced a list of at least 13 serious incidents
recorded at Goliat this year including gas leaks, power losses and
injuries and has called for Eni to lose its operatorship.
In an April letter to Bellona, Norway's oil minister said there
was no reason to take action against Eni though the government has
become more critical recently.
Ms. Hauglie said the Petroleum Safety Authority had reassured
her that it possessed the necessary tools to ensure that Eni
operates Goliat safely even as the oil industry slashes costs to
deal with the plunge in oil prices over the past two years.
Eni's share of Goliat's production is equal to roughly 8% of its
second-quarter crude output, and Statoil's share in the field
contributes about 3% of its crude production. Goliat was Norway's
fourth-largest oil-producing field in July.
Write to Kjetil Malkenes Hovland at
kjetilmalkenes.hovland@wsj.com and Eric Sylvers at
eric.sylvers@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 08, 2016 13:51 ET (17:51 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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