Gas Alert Shuts Norwegian Oil Platform

Gas alert shuts Norwegian oil platform

STOCKHOLM, Jan. 19 (Xinhua) — A Norwegian North Sea oil and natural gas platform was shut down on Thursday after its fire and gas alarms went off, forcing the evacuation of more than a dozen workers.

The incident, in which 17 of the 91 crew members were airlifted to a nearby platform, occurred in Visund, an oil and gas field operated by state-controlled oil company Statoil ASA. No one was injured.

Visund, which produces around 35,000 barrels of oil and 5 million cubic meters of natural gas per day, is among the several Statoil- operated fields that have been hit by problems this week.

What caused the incident and when production on the platform will resume remains unknown, Statoil said.

Norway is the world’s third-largest oil exporter after Saudi Arabia and Russia, with a production of about 3 million barrels a day. Statoil is a key Norwegian oil producer.