BP PLC (BP.LN) has been ordered to take immediate steps to address a number of "serious breaches" of regulations in connection with a fire on its Valhall platform last year, Norway's offshore safety authority said Thursday.
BP PLC (BP.LN) has been ordered to take immediate steps to address a
number of "serious breaches" of regulations in connection with a fire
on its Valhall platform last year,
Norway
's
offshore safety authority said Thursday.
The Petroleum Safety Authority said the July 13 fire involved the breakdown of
a crane engine due to overheating, which led to a fire in the vent stack of the
platform's compressors. The blaze led to production at the 40,000 barrel a day
field shutting down for more than two months.
"Overheating combined with a defective spark arrestor and silencer meant
that red-hot particles leaving the exhaust pipe blew across and ignited
flammable gases from the vent stack," the regulator said in a statement.
No people were injured in the incident, although the safety body said that
under slightly different circumstances it could have escalated and led to the
loss of life.
The findings once again put the
U.K.
energy giant's record under the spotlight nearly two years after a rig leased
by BP exploded in the
Gulf of Mexico
, killing 11 men and leading
to the worst offshore oil spill in
U.S.
history. That incident followed a blast at its Texas City Refinery in 2005 that
resulted in the deaths of 15 workers. Chief Executive Bob Dudley has sought to
put safety at the core of the company's operations since then, but incidents
like Valhall risk undermining claims that BP is indeed implementing higher
standards.
"The PSA's investigation of the incident has identified a number of
serious breaches of the regulations related to BP's management system,"
the agency said. "These relate to lack of maintenance, deficient
maintenance management, inadequacies in risk identification and deficient
barrier management."
BP has been given until Feb. 1 to provide a plan for addressing the faults on
the installation identified by the PSA, with work to be completed by July 1. However,
the regulator doesn't intend to recommend the matter for police investigation,
said PSA spokesman Oyvind Midttun. The company would only be liable for
sanctions or fines if the PSA passed the case on to
Norway
's
judicial authorities.
BP said the PSA's report confirmed its own investigation's finding that the
crane was the source of the overheating. "We have made a number of
corrections to make sure that the facility is upgraded," said BP spokesman
Jan Erik Geirmo. "We are committed to learning from incidents such as this
and to improving our performance," he added.
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