– Equinor has no control – E24

This fall, Equinor has experienced two fires at its onshore facilities and the company is now working on investigations of both. Additionally, the company has reported illegal oil spills from the onshore facility in Mongstad.

On Wednesday, it burned down in a compressor building at Europe’s largest methanol factory at Tjeldbergodden on Møre og Romsdal, three months after the serious fire at Equinor’s LNG plant at Melkøya in Finnmark.

– This shows what Bellona says: Equinor has no control over its onshore facilities. This is dramatic for Equinor management, Bellona leader Frederic Hauge tells E24.

Equinor will not comment on Hauge’s features. The company notes that the Tjeldbergodden fire, similar to the Melkøya fire, will be investigated and says it is too early to conclude on the cause.

The fire in Tjeldbergodden was extinguished at 3:40 p.m. Wednesday, about an hour after the fire was reported. Hauge claims the fire started in a turbine of a turbo generator. According to Bellona, ​​the fire also started in a turbine in Melkøya.

– This fire has the highest possible accident potential. It’s good that they managed to put out the fire, but again we see a turbine fire, and again we see that there have been changes in maintenance intervals, says Hauge.

Blame it on the court shows

Hauge fears that Equinor’s comprehensive cost-cutting programs may have affected facility maintenance. He points out that the new head of Equinor, Anders Opedal, has been instrumental in reducing costs, through the Step program.

– Now we just go and wait for us to see a major accident on a platform. Equinor’s safety culture is out of control. Now we see the consequences of, among other things Step program, which started Opedal, says Hauge.

The program was launched in 2014 and cut targets have since been tightened.

Hauge believes that the security service at several of Equinor’s onshore facilities have experienced poor working conditions.

– Again, we also see desperate working conditions for the security service, just like in Melkøya, says Hauge.

The safe is concerned

Hilde Marit Rysst, leader of the Safe union, is also concerned about maintenance work and fears that cost cuts have contributed to undermining safety in the oil industry.

– It’s disturbing. It is deeply tragic that we are experiencing such a situation again. We’ve long noted that we’re concerned about cost cuts and changes to maintenance intervals and less employee training, Rysst tells E24.

– It is too early to say what the reason is, but if it turns out that cost cuts are behind, then it is very worrying, he says.

He notes that it may take time before cost cuts have consequences in the form of errors and deficiencies in equipment and facilities.

– These are typical things that get worse over time and eventually become deficiencies and security risks. But when the cuts were made, it was thought to be okay and the consequences small, Rysst says.

Two fires and oil spills

There have been several incidents at Equinor’s ground facilities this year:

• Earlier this year, Equinor notified the Norwegian Environment Agency illegal oil spills at the Mongstad plant For a long time. Management says they are taking the situation seriously
• September 28 happened a serious fire at the LNG plant in Melkøya in Finnmark, which is now under investigation by the Norwegian Petroleum Safety Authority and Equinor and is being investigated by the police. Shortly before the fire, an inspection showed that Equinor had not corrected the errors that the PSA tested in 2017
• 2. December burned it in a compressor building at Europe’s largest methanol factory in Tjeldbergodden in the municipality of Aure on Møre og Romsdal. The incident will be investigated, according to Equinor

In addition to the fires, Equinor has also been in severe weather after huge investment losses in the US and major new cost cracks and postponements in various development projects (see data box).

– Looking at it seriously

Equinor spokesman Morten Eek will say nothing about Hauge’s claim that Equinor has no control over the onshore facilities.

– I do not want to comment on these considerations. Work on obtaining an overview of the fire site is in progress, and this will then be reviewed in an investigation. It is he who will give the answer to what caused this incident, Eek tells E24.

It also can’t confirm Hauge’s claims about where the fire originated.

– There are a number of auxiliary systems and equipment in this building, including a turbo generator, but I still don’t know where the fire started, says Eek.

– Good results in safety

Bellona recently submitted an in-house production report claiming, among other things, that the Melkøya fire may be due to cost reductions that have affected maintenance work. Equinor later responded that Bellona had no basis to conclude on the causes of the Melkøya fire.

Equinor will not comment on Hauge’s assertions regarding the security service working conditions and the consequences of the Step cost program.

– I have no comment on that. With the passage of time in recent years we have had good results in security. But now that we’ve seen a number of nearby incidents, we take it seriously and dive into deep investigations to find the underlying causes, Eek says.

– But drawing some conclusions before the investigation report is available, I think it is wrong, he adds.

– Very serious incident

Industri Energi union leader Frode Alfheim believes that it is important to learn from the incident in Tjeldbergodden.

– This is a very serious incident that should not occur. Fortunately, no one was injured. Now we have to get to the bottom of what has happened so that this never happens again. Safety is the most important thing, says Alfheim.

It will not conclude that cost cuts may have affected safety.

– It is completely natural for these questions to be asked and they all need to be answered, but as of now there is no basis to conclude, Alfheim writes in an email to E24.

– Our focus now is to get to the bottom of what happened, find out why it happened and what needs to be done to ensure it never happens again. It is natural that the PSA, which has the supervisory authority, is responsible for the investigation. If they need additional resources to get the job done right, the government should allocate what is needed, he says.

Safe has advocated for the establishment of an external commission of inquiry that can enter and investigate accidents in the oil industry, in addition to investigations conducted by the Norwegian Petroleum Safety Authority.

– We want such a commission. It can function in the same way as the AIBN, which goes in and investigates transportation accidents, Rysst says.