OSLO: Italian oil company Eni must do more to improve safety at its Arctic Goliat oilfield, which produces up to 100,000 barrels of crude per day, Norway's oil safety watchdog said on Tuesday.
The world's northernmost oilfield has suffered a number of incidents since it started production in March 2016.
While previous orders issued by the regulator, including a forced two-month shutdown in 2017, had led to some improvement, the Petroleum Safety Authority's latest inspection found additional problems at Goliat, it added.
"Faults and deficiencies are still (being) uncovered which, combined with the quantity of outstanding maintenance, present challenges related to handling individual and overall risks on the facility," the PSA said in a statement.
"The amount of outstanding work related to the electrical and instrumentation disciplines is relatively large. This applies to both improvements and the maintenance backlog," it added.
Eni acquired Norwegian oil firm Point Resources in July, merging it with its Norwegian subsidiary and renaming the unit Vaar Energy.
Eni holds a 69.6 percent stake in Vaar, while Norwegian private equity firm HitecVision has the remaining 30.4 percent.
Vaar took over operating the field on Dec. 10, after the PSA's letter was sent to Eni on Nov. 29. Vaar Eenrgy has a 65 percent stake in Goliat, while Norway's Equinor holds the remaining 35 percent.
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