Saipem faces PSA order on rig listing

Ballasting operation: Scarabeo 8

PSA

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Steve Marshall

 28 January 2013 12:32 GMT

Italian rig contractor Saipem has been ordered by Norway’s safety watchdog to sharpen standards of competence after its semi-submersible Scarabeo 8 started listing while drilling in the Barents Sea last year.

The newbuild unit listed by as much as seven degrees after taking in seawater in a ballast tank while drilling the Salina wildcat in the Barents Sea for operator Eni, according to the Petroleum Safety Authority’s (PSA) own probe into the 4 September incident.

Eni concluded in its own investigation that a “lack of competence” was to blame for the listing, stating that the control room operator at the time lacked the required expertise to handle the ballasting operation.

It its latest indictment of Saipem over the incident, the PSA has ordered the…

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