Norway oil safety body says can't rule out more field shutdowns

Oslo (Platts)--9Feb2006

Norway's Petroleum Safety Authority cannot rule out the possibility of
further oil and gas field shutdowns in order to avoid the potential risks of
major gas leaks, PSA officials said Thursday.

     Earlier in the day, Statoil said it had shut down the Kvitebjorn platform
Wednesday and would close Heidrun next week to carry out repairs after a gas
leak on another installation last month. Statoil said the shutdowns would
reduce oil and condensate output by some 200,000 b/d.

     Press contacts at Norway's Petroleum Safety Authority said the
inspectorate could not exclude the potential for more fields to be shut down
for the same reasons.

     "We cannot rule it out just now," a spokeswoman for the Authority said.

     The PSA wrote to offshore operators last week, giving details about the
Jan 19 gas leak at the Visund platform and informing them of the potentially
dangerous conditions that had been uncovered in connection with the discharge
assembly in the knock-out drum for the flare. It asked the oil companies to
check their own installations and report back.

     "We haven't quite finished going through all the material," the
spokeswoman said.

     Statoil, following the Visund gas leak, has reviewed all of its
facilities to control the flare knock-out drums, and in a Feb 3 letter to the
PSA said it had similar constructions on the Sleipner B and Kvitebjorn
platforms, on Heidrun in the Norwegian Sea, and at the gas processing 
complex at Kollsnes near Bergen. A team of specialists at Statoil, after a 
detailed evaluation of the design of Heidrun and Kvitebjorn, concluded that 
the flare knock-out drums should be repaired.

     "The specialist team is now assessing whether it will be necessary to
remove similar plates at Kollsnes and on the Sleipner B platform," Statoil
said.

     The shortfall in production from Kvitebjorn will be just in excess of
20-mil cu m/day of gas and about 60,000 b/d of condensate. The Heidrun 
field is currently  producing some 3-mil cu m/day of gas and about 
140,000 b/d of oil. Visund remains closed and is unlikely to resume production
during the first quarter, with a loss of about 35,000 b/d of oil and about
4-mil cu m/day of export gas.

     The production losses have not affected gas buyers, Statoil said.

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