NEWS

The Statfjord field, one of the largest in the North Sea, lies some 180 km (110 miles) from Norway’s coast and straddles British-Norwegian waters.

A leak was reported at about 1640 GMT on Saturday on board the Statfjord A platform. About half of the 168 staff present were evacuated by two helicopters to platforms Statfjord B and C.

There were no reports of injuries and the situation was normalised from about 1820 GMT on Saturday.

“Production from Statfjord A was resumed today, 29 December,” Statoil said on its website.

“As far as we know there was no spillage of oil to the sea,” Statoil spokesman Kjetil Visnes told Reuters. “But we are conducting an investigation to find out more.”

Statoil did not say how much oil and gas the platform was producing at the time of the incident. Only production at Statfjord A was shut. A company spokesman said on Saturday he had had no reports of Statfjord B and C being affected.

The Statfjord field produced some 129,000 barrels per day in December, or four million barrels for the month, and was expected to produce the same amount in January, according to loading schedules compiled by Reuters.

The field is expected to produce some 1.05 billion standard cubic metres of gas in 2013, according to estimates by the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate.

Statoil operates Statfjord and has a stake of 44.34 percent. The other partners are Centrica, with 34.29 percent, and ExxonMobil with 21.37 percent.