Norway Cites Flaws in BP Readiness

BP PLC's efforts to monitor and respond to sudden pollution releases such as oil spills in the Norwegian Sea suffer from ‘very serious shortcomings' that demand immediate improvement, Norwegian regulators said, according to the Wall Street Journal.  

An October investigation during drilling at the Skarv field by Norway's Climate and Pollution Agency, a directorate under the Ministry of the Environment, found that BP couldn't document how it has designed preparedness against sudden pollution releases, the agency said on Tuesday 29^th November 2011.

 

The report is the latest criticism of safety issues at BP, after a massive oil spill in the US Gulf of Mexico in 2010 and numerous other accidents in recent years. In the wake of the Gulf spill, BP appointed a global head of safety to its executive management team.

 

The investigation concluded that BP hadn't established sufficient systems to detect emergency contamination within three hours, nor could it prove that its preparations were based on national performance standards, the Norwegian agency said.

 

BP is now undertaking measures to correct the situation. The UK-based company told the agency what measures it will implement to comply with the regulations and will shortly present it with a written report on the issue.

 

The measures concern both the Skarv field and future BP activities in Norway. At the Skarv field a radar system has been installed and already is operational to provide an additional oil-on-water detection program.

 

The Norwegian agency also said it isn't satisfied with the preparedness for acute pollution when it comes to several other operators on the Norwegian continental shelf.