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Abstract
The petroleum industry is the most important industry in Norway when it comes to tax revenues and employment. Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) is the cornerstone of all operations conducted on the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS). The activities of the petroleum industry are subject to a high degree of governmental oversight, with legislations imposed developed based on many years of experience and continous learning from past incidents.
Barriers are important measures used to reduce the probability of unwanted incidents occurring and to reduce the consequences of such incidents. In 2017 the Norwegian Petroleum Safety Authority issued a memorandum to provide guidance on the use of the term barriers.
Equinor is a worldwide energy company overseeing a large amount of the subsea pipelines on the NCS. Transport Net is a department in Equinor with the responsibility for the technical integrity of these pipelines.
The purpose of this thesis is to perform a gap analysis on the established regulations and the current situation in Transport Net.
By first reviewing important information on subsea pipelines, interfaces, threats, technical integrity and barriers a basis for further evaluation is established. This information is followed by a review on the current practice in Transport Net.
The gap analysis showed differences in the current practice and the desired practice. The recommendations are based on the findings in the gap analysis. The recommendations include suggested updates on an existing barrier matrix template. Several threats have been added to the matrix, and each barrier function include three barrier elements: Technical, Operational and Organizational. | |