Equinor in serious safety breaches at Hammerfest: PSA
(Adds Equinor comment in para 4)
The fire that raged through the Hammerfest LNG plant in late September would have been avoided if management had been on top of things there, according to the Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA) which investigated the fire.
It published its report April 22 as well as the letter it sent to the operator Equinor. It said there were serious breaches in the regulations and Equinor has to make changes to the manning and the level of competency of staff at the plant.
Nobody was injured in the fire and it was also fortunate that there were vessels nearby to extinguish it before it spread further, it said. The PSA told NGW that it would be for the police to decide if the matter were to be taken further: its own role was to try to establish the root cause and see what lessons could be learned.
Equinor told NGW that the police were still investigating the fire. It added that the "fire in Hammerfest was a serious incident, and we are pleased about no one being injured. We will now study the PSA's investigation report thoroughly while completing our in-house investigation report."
The likeliest cause of the fire was pre-filters in the air intake auto-igniting. Tests indicate that biomass buildups – primarily insects – in the pre-filters may have lowered their auto-ignition temperature, the PSA said. The control valve for hot-oil supply to the air intake’s anti-icing panels had been opened manually to dissipate excess heat in the hot-oil circuit. This caused the temperature in the filter housing to rise sufficiently to auto-ignite the pre-filters.
The investigation identified five nonconformities relating to: management and control; manning in the organisation; risk analyses; filter maintenance; and an overview of external emergency response resources.
Equinor will have to identify and implement follow-up measures to ensure compliance with the management system, including ensuring that knowledge and necessary information available within the company are communicated in a systematic and appropriate manner to operations personnel in order to ensure safe operation.
It must also demonstrate by submitting short- and long-term plans for the plant's operation that activities have adequate manning and competence to deal with all operating conditions. And it must prepare a plan for complying with the orders by June 1, all to be submitted to the PSA. The plant is due to restart later this year, liquefying gas from the Snohvit field.
Separately, the PSA's investigation into the Tjeldbergodden methanol plant fire is continuing although the plant itself resumed operations two months ago.