Safety concerns shut down WA oil rig

Australia’s National Offshore Petroleum Safety Authority (NOPSA) has issued a prohibition notice preventing petroleum operator Australian FPSO Management (AFM) from using the process plant on its offshore facility near Barrow Island, WA, until safety issues are resolved.

The issuing of the prohibition notice follows a recent inspection by NOPSA OHS inspectors of AFM’s offshore facility, Four Vanguard, which is a floating production, storage and offtake vessel (FPSO).

Four Vanguard’s process plant is a pressurised system for separating oil, water and gas from production wells.

NOPSA is concerned that a number of critical safety systems related to shutdown and emergency depressurisation within the process plant are not currently able to meet the necessary standards. The inspectors believe this is an immediate threat to the safety of the offshore workforce.

“Workforce safety is our highest priority and where threats to the safety of offshore personnel are identified NOPSA will continue to take enforcement action,” said acting CEO of NOPSA, Ted Kirkbride.

“Operators of offshore facilities must be able to demonstrate that their critical safety systems are going to work reliably to agreed and binding standards.”