Kristin lifeboats approved

Testing and approval of the lifeboats on Statoil’s Kristin platform in the Norwegian Sea has been completed, and these craft were transported offshore today, 13 September.

They will be installed on the installation as soon as weather conditions are acceptable.

This programme of checks followed the discovery of faults in similar craft during system tests on the group’s Veslefrikk B installation in the North Sea.

The lifeboats were uninstalled on 13 July and sent to the supplier, Umoe Schat-Harding, for reinforcement and testing. Statoil also plans to reinforce their launch system.

“Kristin won’t be brought on stream until the lifeboats have been installed and the launch system reinforced,” says operations vice president Eileen Buan.

“Safety takes precedence over production. We’ve had 10 weeks of reduced staffing on the platform, but aim to come on stream in October. An impressive effort has been made to meet this goal.”

The planned start to production was 1 October.

Apart from Statoil with 41.3 per cent, the Kristin licensees are Petoro 19.6 per cent, Norsk Hydro 14 per cent, ExxonMobil 10.9 per cent, Eni 8.2 and Total six.