Storms, alarms shut in more Norwegian oil, gas production

London (Platts)--19Jan2006

Fierce winter storms and fire scares shut in about 120,000 b/d of
Statoil's Norwegian oil production Thursday in addition to stopping 43-mil
cm/day of gas and 118,000 b/d of condensate output earlier this week. 
     Statoil, Norway's largest oil company, said it shut down the 35,000 b/d
Visund field in the North Sea midnight Wednesday and evacuated some workers
after gas and fire detectors were activated on the platform.
     The company said checks have confirmed there was no fire on the platform
but output would not resume until "the management considers that justifiable."
Visund was also producing 5-mil cu m/day of gas before the shutdown.
     Statoil also said its 125,000 b/d Norne oilfield in the Norwegian Sea is
now producing at a third of normal levels due to heavy storms which have
forced it to suspend offloading operations.
     Norne is currently producing 41,000 b/d amid high winds which have made
it unsafe to offload the field's floating production ship, now approaching its
storage capacity, a company spokeswomen said.
     The field is expected to remain at 41,000 b/d production until Saturday
when Statoil plans hopes to resume offloading, the official said.
     Production rates at Norne had returned to normal earlier this week after
output was slashed to 25,000 b/d last Thursday due to similar stormy weather.
Statoil operates the field with a 25% equity stake. Its partners are Norsk
Hydro (8.1%), Eni (6.9%), Shell (6%) and the state's Petoro (54%).
     Meanwhile, a Statoil spokesman reiterated that the company hopes to
restart some 43-mil cm/d of shut-in gas and 118,000 b/d of condensate
production from the Norwegian Sea Asgard B platform on the weekend.
      
     ASGARD
     Smoke and sparks were seen in an exhaust flue on the Asgard B platform
Sunday, triggering an immediate shutdown of the platform and two connected gas
and condensate fields--Kristin and Mikkel.
     "Inspections aren't yet complete but we are hoping to restart by the end
of the weekend," the official said Wednesday.
     Planned production at Asgard B this week was 27.5-mil cu m of gas,
45,000 b/d condensate, Statoil said earlier. Some 11-mil cu m/d of gas and
62,000 b/d of condensate at the nearby Kristin field and 4.5-mil cm/d of gas
and 11,000 b/d of condensate field at the Mikkel field were also shut in.
     Including the Visund shutdown, Statoil is now losing a total 48-mil cm/d
of gas production. The company has said, however, the hitch has not affected
deliveries to its gas customers.
     The bulk of Asgard's oil output of close to 90,000 b/d is produced via
the Asgard A floating production vessel, which was not shut down by the alarm
on Asgard B, and is not affected by the incident.
     Statoil operates the Asgard field with a 25% stake. Its partners in the
project are state holding company Petoro (35.5%), Norsk Hydro (9.6%), Eni
(14.9%), Total (7.65%) and ExxonMobil (7.35%).
     Statoil had also suspended all construction work on the Snohvit field in
northern Norway Thursday as a result of the worst winter storms seen for many
years. People in the city of Hammerfest where the LNG plant is under
construction has been told to stay in doors.
--Robert Perkins, robert_perkins@platts.com
--Willy Olsen, newsdesk@platts.com

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