Collision Halts Statoil Oseberg Platform Production

Statoil shut its oil platform at the Oseberg East field offshore Norway after a collision with a supply vessel but production was expected to restart later the same day, a spokesman said.

The collision took place at 0140 CET (1140 GMT on Wednesday), forcing a shutdown and preparations to evacuate workers. The situation was normalized a few hours later, and the inspection showed small damage on the platform.

"The production was stopped, but we are preparing to restart it later today," said Lars Kindingstad, a spokesman for Statoil.

During the first four months of the year, Oseberg East produced 961,189 barrels of oil or about 8,000 barrels of oil per day, data from the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate showed.

Statoil, the operator of the field, has a 49.3 percent stake in the production licence. The other partners are Norway's state-owned Petoro with 33.6 percent, France's Total with 14.7 and U.S. major ConocoPhillips with 2.4 percent.

 

Reporting by Nerijus Adomaitis