Oil leak shuts down North Sea platform

A hydrocarbon leak has caused Statoil ASA to shut down its Snorre B platform in the North Sea. Oil production was halted after a soil shift was detected under the drilling template, which was followed by the leak. The firm evacuated around a quarter of its personnel as a precaution. 

The company announced on Monday (May 19th) that, although the Snorre B platform has halted production, its Snorre A platform is operating normally. The Snorre oil field is the fourth largest producer of oil in Norway and is located in the northern area of the North Sea. According to data from the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD), the Snorre oil field produced around 88,000 barrels a day during 2013.

The Snorre B platform was halted on Saturday (May 17th) when the pit under the drilling template was detected by a subsea robot. The drilling template works to connect the underwater site to a platform on the surface of the water. A spokesperson for Statoil told Reuters that oil production was once again halted on Monday after an oil leak was also detected.

Around 33 people out of the 136 personnel on the platform have been moved to a nearby floating accommodation while the issue is being dealt with, the spokeswoman continued. Those that have been evacuated are counted as non-essential personnel and can play no part in getting the platform back online. The company has also informed the Norwegian Petroleum Safety Organisation of its response to the incident.

Although the oil leak is reported as being reasonably small, it is not yet known when the platform will come back online and those evacuated allowed back on Snorre B.

The Snorre development is operated by Statoil, which has a 33.31 per cent stake in the project. Other companies with stakes in the development include Petoro (30 per cent), ExxonMobil (11.58 per cent), Idemitsu Petroleum (9.60 per cent), RWE (8.28 per cent), Total (6.17 per cent) and Core Energy (1.03 per cent).