Equinor Working to Improve Safety: CEO

Norwegian state producer Equinor said in a February 1 statement that it had to work on safety improvements. Last year saw two plants close down owing to "serious fires": the liquefaction plant at Melkoya and the methanol plant at Tjelderbergodden. There were no casualties and the investigations with the Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA) are continuing, and expected to be completed this quarter.

“The progress we see in the number of incidents and personal injuries indicates that we are working on the right measures across the company, and that inspires us in the work ahead,” said CEO Anders Opedal, who succeeded Eldar Saetre late last year. The company recorded a total of 67 serious incidents and near misses were recorded in 2020 in Equinor.

“It is important that findings and conclusions from the investigations carried out by us and the authorities lead to learning and are translated into specific actions and measures," Opedal said. The PSA said last autumn that the company had failed to implement its recommendations at Melkoya following an inspection in 2017.