Oil company BP has ordered a complete evacuation of the Valhall oil field in the North Sea amid fears an unmanned barge could crash into the offshore platforms. Production at the gas field, Norway’s largest, was not affected as the installation was a drilling rig, not a production facility, the Statoil spokesman said.
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The barge is 110m in length and 30m wide and there are fears that it could ram one of the rigs.
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The Norwegian oil safety watchdog said that the barge could inflict severe damage if it hit the platform.
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They are being airlifted off by helicopters, which were scrambled to the incident this morning.
More than 300 oil workers were evacuated Thursday after a huge barge broke its moorings in stormy weather and began drifting towards two major North Sea oilfields, Norway’s NTB news agency reported.
BP said it was airlifting all 235 staff from the platform.
Oil from BP’s Valhall and Conoco’s Eldfisk fields feeds into Ekofisk, which is one of the crudes used to price the Dated Brent global benchmark.
Evacuees are being flown ashore by Sea King helicopter from the Norwegian Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre. A spokesman for Norway’s coast guard tells the BBC that the wave that hit the workers’ accommodation block on the rig must have been around 60 feet high.
On Thursday, the China Oilfield Services Ltd (COSL) rig which experienced a fatality was making its way to the Norwegian coastline and was expected to reach land later in the day.
The remaining staff have stayed on board the rig, which is now under its own power and on its way towards the coast, according to a Ritzau report brought by Danish broadcaster DR.
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In a statement, Statoil said a “heavy wave” had slammed into the installation.
