Statoil North Sea Platform Incident Leads to Partial Evacuation

Statoil say that a situation arose in which drill fluid was lost as a new well was being drilled on Snorre A, in the Tampen area of the North Sea.

Statoil explain that while it was possible to quickly reduce the loss of drill fluid to the reservoir, adverse weather conditions created some uncertainty as to when a vessel might get out to the platform with a new supply of drill fluid. As a purely preventive measure, 117 out of a total 254 platform personnel were transferred to Gullfaks A and Gullfaks C.

The well in question is being cemented and closed. Once this task has been completed, and new drill fluid has been received on board, the personnel will return to Snorre A.


Snorre is located in blocks 34/4 and 34/7 in the Tampen area of the Norwegian North Sea.