Equinor has shut down a North Sea gas platform after detecting smoke on-board.
The energy company has mobilised its emergency response team following the alert received on the Sliepner B platform, located near the UK-Norwegian Sea boundary in the North Sea.
To cool the platform from afar, the emergency ships Skandi Mongstad and Esvagt Bergen have employed seawater yesterday.
Production from the Sleipner B platform has been halted, and the platform is now in a state of depressurization and power outage.
A statement from the company said: “The vessels will remain stationed outside the unmanned Sleipner B platform and monitor the situation for as long as necessary”, it said in a second update. “A SAR [search and rescue] helicopter will fly over the platform with a thermal imaging camera to monitor the situation. There is no danger to life and health.”
Equinor has assured that the shutdown at Sliepner will not affect its obligations to clients, and the company has ramped up operations in other fields to make up for the shortfall.
Norway is the leading exporter of natural gas in Europe and a significant oil producer, with the capacity to extract more than four million barrels of oil equivalent daily from over 90 offshore fields, with approximately half of this output being gas.
The duration of the shutdown is currently unknown, according to the company.
