The audit was carried out from 25 to 27 April 2023, in cooperation with the Norwegian Meteorological Institute (MET).

Background

The collection of environmental data collection offshore is a key feature of continuous work to maintain a high level of safety in the Norwegian petroleum activities. Such data provides an important foundation for establishing safe helicopter transport and for preparing site-specific weather forecasts in real time.

It is important that equipment and offshore personnel included in the measurement programme and related maintenance perform these activities in compliance with the regulatory requirements.

The supervision was conducted as an audit offshore on Yme Inspirer and targeted Repsol’s work on collecting and reporting environmental data on the facility, including:

  • Checking of the facility’s measuring instruments against MET’s calibrated reference instruments.
  • Maintenance routines for measuring instruments.
  • Review of metadata (exposure and equipment types).
  • Interviews with personnel who carry out observations on board the facility.

Objective

The objective of the audit was to help ensure that environmental data are collected and relayed in compliance with applicable regulations and that sufficient knowledge about such collection and about the upkeep of meteorological equipment is maintained on the facility.

Result

The audit identified factors that we have chosen to categorise as improvement points. These concerned:

  • Routine inspection of instruments for the collection of environmental data
  • Complementary information about submitted environmental data
  • Omissions in the registration of environmental data

What happens now?

We have asked Repsol to give us its assessment of the improvement points observed by 12 June 2023.