During 2015 and 2016, the Health and Safety Working Group of the North Sea Offshore Authorities Forum (NSOAF), chaired by Petroleum Safety Authority Norway, met to discuss common challenges for the oil and gas industry in their respective countries. The challenges related to maintaining and operating ageing installations in a lower-oil-price environment was selected as topic for further work and follow-up.
This generated the basis for a series of audits [multinational audits (MNAs)] in 2017 on the theme of Maintaining Safe Operations with a common set of themes and questions. Each member country adapted the questions to their local regulatory regime and their language. They then conducted their audits as part of their regular audit/supervisory program.
This resulting report describes the audit process and summarizes the findings and learnings from the MNAs. The findings from the audits are presented in the report as good or poor practices to indicate areas of improvement and potential for knowledge transfer.
The objectives of the MNAs were to ensure that all relevant lessons with respect to maintenance of safety critical barriers learned by the NSOAF members from the audits are communicated to the industry and implemented in the North Sea. The overall MNA goal is related to evaluating the companies’ ambitions and priorities through managing major accident risk and maintaining safe operations in times of major cost reductions and massive efficiency programs.