Production on the Veslefrikk field in the North Sea was stopped today, 21 June, after a fault was discovered on one of the lifeboats on board the B platform.
The fault was discovered when one of three skid boats was to be drop-tested with five tonnes of sand on board. Faults on the top hatch and the rear hatch led to the boat being partly filled with water. The two other lifeboats have been taken out of service. No crew members were in the lifeboats during the test.
In addition to the skid boats, Veslefrikk B also has two conventional lifeboats. Statoil is reducing the number of personnel on the platform to accord with lifeboat capacity requirements before production resumes.
The Veslefrikk A and B platforms are normally joined by a gangway and had a total of 172 people on board.
Shutting down Veslefrikk also affects the Huldra field, which is remotely controlled from Veslefrikk B. Huldra was already shut down in connection with a turnaround.
Veslefrikk produces about 30,000 barrels of oil per day.