Teekay’s Petrojarl Knarr FPSO has received PSA Norway’s Acknowledgement of Compliance (AoC), and has now arrived the Knarr field in the North Sea. The AoC is a statement from the PSA expressing the authorities’ confidence that petroleum activity can be performed by the facility within the regulatory framework.

FPSO Petrojarl Knarr is to be used on the Knarr field, where BG Norge AS is the operator. The Knarr field is in the North Sea, around 50 kilometers north-east of Snorre. Petrojarl Knarr is classified by DNV GL and sails under the Bahamian flag. It was built by Samsung Heavy Industries in Korea, and then underwent final preparations at the Aibel’s Haugesund yard before sailing away towards the Knarr field.

“It is the PSA’s assessment that petroleum activities may be carried out using the Petrojarl Knarr FPSO facility within the regulatory framework. The decision is based on the information provided in the AoC application concerning the technical condition of the facility and the applicant’s organization and management system, as well as the authorities’ verifications and other case processing,” PSA Norway said in the statement announcing the AoC.

Installed on the FPSO are four of Norsafe Group’s GES50 MKIII free-fall lifeboats. In July 2014, Norsafe received Declaration of Conformity (DoC) from ABS for three freefall lifeboat models (GES45, GES50 MKIII and GES52), verifying their fulfillment of the DNV-OS-E406 standard. Norsafe noted that the recent statement from PSA confirms that GES50 MKIII fulfils the latest requirements, and are approved for operation in the North Sea.

Norsafe CEO Geir Skaala, said, “We are the first company to have three complete freefall lifeboat systems that are approved in accordance with the DNV-OS-E406 standards. It has been a time consuming and interesting task over the last years to prepare for the new requirements, and now we see the results.”