Platform damage prompted a shutdown of Statoil's Sleipner East field in the North Sea early this morning, 12 September.
Corrosion problems have been discovered on a flange in the processing facilities on the Sleipner A installation.
Repair work starts tomorrow and should take four days, reports Kåre Søvik, operations manager for the Sleipner fields. But a total shutdown could last a week in all.
Sleipner A was out of operation from 14 August to 5 September for a turnaround, and corrosion damage to the B inlet separator was discovered during routine inspection before reconnecting flanges after this shutdown.
Mr Søvik says that the unit was one of the last to be returned to operation after the turnaround, and that the damage accordingly posed no threat to safety.
"We have opted to stay shut down until repairs are completed in order to do the welding in a secure manner," he says. "We're also going to inspect a similar flange on the A separator."
Production from Sleipner West resumed after the turnaround on 7 September, and is not affected by the Sleipner East shutdown.
Efforts will be made to cover the field's gas delivery commitments from other Norwegian offshore sources.
Sleipner A has the capacity to produce 23 million cubic metres of gas per day, but the sales volume varies with market demand.