• The audit was conducted in December 2022 with assistance from the Civil Aviation Authority Norway.
  • Notice of an order was sent to Aker BP on 23 December 2022.
  • The order was issued on 19 January 2023.

Objective

The objective of the audit was to ensure that the responsible parties are working systematically to reduce the risk associated with helideck operations at Aker BP’s offshore facilities.

Result

The audit identified one non-conformity and two improvement points.

Serious non-conformities were identified concerning the presence of obstacles to aviation and the maintenance of equipment important for the safety of helicopter flights to and from Tambar.

No non-conformities were identified at Hod B.

What happens now?

We have asked Aker BP to report to us by 16 February 2023 on how the non-conformities will be addressed, and to give us their assessment of the improvement points observed.

We have also issued the company with an order.

Order

Based on the findings in the audit, we have issued Aker BP with the following order:

Pursuant to the Framework Regulations, section 69 concerning administrative decisions, with reference to the Activities Regulations, section 47 concerning the maintenance programme, we order Aker BP to:

  1. Review and evaluate the maintenance programme and activities for monitoring performance and technical condition so as to ensure that developing or incipient failure modes have been identified and rectified for components of significance for helicopter operations at Tambar, with reference to Chapter 5.1.1 of the report.
  2. Ensure that failure modes of components of significance for helicopter operations are systematically prevented through maintenance programmes on all Aker BP ASA’s facilities.

The result of the review and evaluation, as well as any measures, are to be documented.

The deadline for complying with item 1 of the order is 15 March 2023.

The deadline for complying with item 2 of the order is 5 July 2023.