Bureau Veritas (BV) has announced that it has opened a verification academy that will help it to meet increasing demand for verification in the EU and globally.
The verification academy, which is based in Aberdeen, UK, trains both BV staff and clients in implementing the most beneficial methodology for verification of offshore installations. BV is the only externally accredited IVB under UKAS 17020 with respect to initial suitability and operational verification.
Matthieu de Tugny, Senior Vice-President and head of Offshore, Bureau Veritas Marine & Offshore Division, said: “We see increasing demand for independent verification services globally and especially in the EU as the new regulations come into force which extend and enhance the UK model of Safety Case regulation and verification across the EU. Our expertise was honed in the North Sea and we are using that experience to help operators globally as the Safety Case/Verification regime is adopted more widely.”
The objective of EU Directive 2013/30 is to reduce the occurrence of major accidents related to offshore oil and gas operations, and to limit their consequences. It comes into force in July 2016 for new installations and operators planning or executing well operations and 2018 for existing installations.
The Directive enforces the implementation of the UK-style Safety Case/Verification regime throughout Europe, with the addition of environmental information such as the oil spill response gap and inclusion of information on the operator’s safety and environmental management system.
Outside Europe BV is providing non-regulatory verification for the Eni Norge Goliat field, which is scheduled to begin production of oil from the Barents Sea in 2015 and Tullow Oil’s TEN project off Ghana, amongst many others.
Edited from press release by Callum O'Reilly