Analysis of 985 fire incidents related to oil- and gas production on the Norwegian shelf

Fire is a major threat in the petroleum industry. However, little has been published about the fire related incidents that have occurred in the Norwegian petroleum sector. To gain more knowledge, data from 985 incidents in the 1997 - 2014 period has been analysed. Examples of factors studied are type of facility involved, involved area or system, consequences and severity level. The analysis of the fire incidents reveals that even though many incidents are reported, the large majority of these have not imposed risks for severe fire accidents. It has also provided valuable information regarding possible dangerous situations, commonly in-volved areas, types of equipment as well as types of activity that were involved. Twenty-nine percent of the incidents were false alarms, which must be regarded as a high number in an industry where any production stop could be extremely costly