North Sea platform restarts after gas leak

The Statoil ASA oil company said its Kvitebjoern offshore field was restarting July 1 after a natural gas leak shut it down and had the crew in lifeboats ready to evacuate this week.

The 375 million cubic feet per day natural gas field was shut down June 28 following the gas leak, which did not cause damage or injuries.

The leak was attributed to increased pressure in a pipeline system on the restart of a land-based gas processing unit.

“The plan is to start up today, and reach full production by July 2,” company spokesman Harald Schjelderup said by telephone.

The leak was the third reported by the state-controlled oil company in nine months, including a serious gas blowout that closed Statoil’s Snorre-A oil and gas platform for weeks but caused no injuries.

Explosions and fires from natural gas can endanger entire platforms and their crews. The field is about 95 miles off Bergen, the main city on Norway’s west coast.

Norway’s offshore fields make it the world’s third-largest oil exporter, after Saudi Arabia and Russia. It is also a major natural gas exporter.

—The Associated Press