Statoil said the oil spill was discovered during the loaded of oil from the Statfjord A platform in the North Sea to oil tanker Hilda Knutsen.
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The leak occurred at 0630 GMT during the loading of oil to a tanker from the Statfjord A platform via a loading buoy, Statoil said. A Statoil spokesman later said another buoy could be used to export oil stored on the platform. According to preliminary information the spill happened due to leak in flange of the loading hose. The Norwegian multinational company has responded to the incident, but states that it is too early to definitively determine how much oil has leaked.
In January previous year, the company shut down operations at the Statfjord C platform after emergency systems detected an oil leak.
A stand-by vessel with oil spill response equipment and an anchor handling vessel are at the site of the spill. Meanwhile, a search-and-rescue helicopter is assisting with monitoring the spill. The field is expected to remain in production until 2025.
The oil tanker Hilda Knutsen (IMO: 9628300) has overall length of 276.00 m, moulded beam of 47.00 m and maximum draft of 12.00 m. The deadweight of the crude carrier is 123,166 DWT and the gross tonnage is 80,850 GRT.
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Statfjord is one of the oldest producing fields on the Norwegian continental shelf, and the largest oil discovery in the North Sea.
