Key error in India halted production at Mongstad

Mongstad.Photo: Chris Kyllingmark / SCANPIX .

The security at the group’s plant is repeatedly being jeopardized by the operation of computer systems which were outsourced to a company in India, stated several internal reports.

After Statoil passed off IT work in 2012, there have been a number of potentially dangerous situations on Statoil’s installations and platforms shown by internal reports which NRK has had access to.

NRK has found evidence of 29 incidents where Indian IT workers have broken down barriers to platforms, onshore and central Statoil – but several sources have stated to NRK that the scale is much larger.

Among other things, an IT worker in India stopped production at Statoil’s refinery at Mongstad in 2014 because of a typing error, and in a period of the same year over 100 employees in the Indian company had access to all of Statoil’s computer systems.

– We do not just work with chocolate production. The mistake can easily create very dangerous situations, says senior safety advisor Erik Neverdal.

Statoil’s information director Bård Glad Pedersen, said that after the incident at Mongstad several measures have been implemented.

– Currently, this only led to economic loss, but it can quickly lead to human losses, says steward Jan Eirik Feste at Mongstad.

The Indian company HCL Technologies will not answer questions, but writes in an email to NRK that HCL and Statoil have successfully worked together for four years.

 

Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today