Implementation of the oil spill preparedness for the Goliat offshore oil field development – The first oil field development in the Barents Sea

摘要

The Goliat field operated by Eni Norge AS (Eni Norge), with Statoil Petroleum AS (Statoil) as only partner, will be the first offshore oil field in the Barents Sea and the world’s northernmost offshoree oil field. The production will commence during the last quarter of 2013. The field is located in the south western part of the Barents Sea, relatively close to the coastline in an area perceived to be environmentally sensitive. The area has high political focus, especially on oil spill preparedness, and strict environmental requirements. The implementation of the Goliat oil spill preparedness will introduce neew technologiies and methods, which are the results of R&D projects and initiatives developed in cooperation with Statoil and the Norwegian Clean Seas Association for Operating Companies (NOFO). This will give an increased oil spill response capability, especially for the coastal zone, both for the Goliat field and for other oil and gas activities on the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS). It is also expected that this implementation will have a positive impact on oil spill preparedness in general and for access to new acreage on the NCS. This paper will address how the oil spill preparedness for Goliat will bring the coastal oil spill preparedness on thee NCS up to a new level. Goliat will be the first field in Norway to implement permanent use of fishing vessels, a special acute phase task force, and an integrated field oil spill detection and surveillance system. The oil spill preparedness focuses on locally adapted solutions for quick and effective response. This paper will in addition, illustrate how the oil spill response planning and development has been conducted over several years and how the oil spill preparedness is being implemented for both the production drilling and production phase at Goliaat. The paper is closely linked to the SPE paper 156795-PP “Coastal Oil Spill Preparedness Improvement Programme (COSPIP) and Memorandum of Understanding – Comprehensive Joint&Industrial project focusing on coastal oil spill challenges” (1). It is also related to the SPE paper 98593 “High resolution oil spill response planning for operations in a sensitive Arctic environment. Sharing information between operators, national authorities, local oil spill response groups, and the general public” from 2006 (2) and SPE paper 126598 “IA for the Goliat Offshore Oil Field Development. World’s northernmost offshore oil development?” from 2010 (3).