The following is being distributed at the request of the Canada-Newfoundland Offshore Petroleum Board: Board authorizes Terra
Nova FPSO to resume production
The Canada-Newfoundland
Offshore Petroleum Board (C-NOPB) has authorized the Terra Nova FPSO
to resume production.
On December 1, 2004, the
C-NOPB placed a condition on the Terra Nova Production Operations
Authorization (POA) that until certain outstanding maintenance work
was complete; the FPSO could not produce hydrocarbons.
"Over the last two
weeks, Petro-Canada has completed work on the safety items we had
identified as outstanding during previous audits," explained C-NOPB
chief safety officer, Howard Pike. "The integrity of the facility
as a safe installation was not in question. However, these outstanding
maintenance issues needed to be done for the FPSO to continue meeting
the high standard of safety we expect here in the Newfoundland and
Labrador offshore area."
In order for any oil and
gas activity to go ahead in the Newfoundland and Labrador offshore
area, permission, in the form of authorizations, must be granted by
the C-NOPB. The Terra Nova POA, which gave them approval to operate on
the field, was due to expire at the end of August 2004. At that time,
the board decided not to approve Petro-Canada�s application for a
three-year POA but to give a 90-day extension with specific work
requirements. While significant progress on the outstanding issues had
been made at the end of November, a number of issues remained
incomplete. The board gave a further 60-day extension to January 30,
2005, with the condition that no production take place until the
required maintenance was completed. That condition has been met. The
C-NOPB will conduct a follow-up audit before a new POA is issued.
Media contact: Simone
Keough, Communications, (709) 778-1418
2004 12 15 2:35 p.m. |
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