Eirik Raude rig resumes drilling

Norwegian authorities allowed the semi-submersible Eirik Raude rig to resume drilling April 3 after investigating three spills into ecologically fragile Arctic waters since February.

The rig, owned by the Ocean Rig group and drilling for the Norwegian oil company Statoil ASA, was voluntarily shut down immediately after an April 12 accidental spill of 1.75 tons of hydraulic oil into the Barents Sea.

The Norwegian Petroleum Safety Authority said it believes measures taken aboard the rig would minimize the chance of any further spills.

“The authorities concluded that the spill of hydraulic oil was the result of weaknesses on the technical design of the specific hydraulic system, combined with weaknesses in the maintenance system,” the state regulatory agency said.

Norway has allowed oil companies to search for petroleum in the potentially oil-rich Barents Sea under strict rules, including no spills.

The Barents Sea north of Norway and Russia is rich in fish stocks and has a fragile cold water ecology. It may also have oil and natural gas reserves that Norway needs to maintain levels of oil production that make the Nordic nation the world’s third-largest oil exporter after Saudi Arabia and Russia.

The same rig had two leaks in February when it was drilling an exploration well for another Norwegian oil company, Norsk Hydro ASA.

The Norwegian Pollution Control Authority concluded that none of the spills had any significant environmental impact.

Statoil, founded by the government in 1972 to oversee Norway’s petroleum interests, employs 24,000 people in 29 countries.

—The Associated Press