North Sea oil platform leak under control: operator

OSLO-More than 150 workers were evacuated from a North Sea oil platform Saturday amid fears that a leak would spark an explosion, but by mid-afternoon the rig's operator said the situation was under control. "The leak from the tank on (the) Statfjord A (platform) has been stopped, and the pumping of oil-containing water to sea has also been stopped,"Norwegian energy giant StatoilHydro said in a statement.Two helicopters had been used to evacuate 156 of the 217 people working on the platform, located some 200 kilometres (125 miles) from the Norwegian coast, to nearby rigs after an oil leak was discovered at around 6:00 am (0400 GMT).A storage cell had begun leaking oil into one of the platform's three shafts as work was being performed on a pipe, StatoilHydro said.Due to a danger the oil would evaporate and create gas which could easily ignite, the company had decided to pump around 1,200 cubic metres (42,380 cubic feet) of water containing oil out of the shaft and into the sea, creating a "thin film" on the water surrounding the platform."This pumping has now been stopped. The oil concentration in the water is limited," the company said, adding that oil protection equipment had been deployed. "With the worst case scenario in mind, in which there could be an explosion, we are taking the necessary security precautions," StatoilHydro spokesman Ole Morten Aanestad told AFP earlier, adding that 61 people had remained on the platform to help stop the leak.By early evening, the company said: "The personnel on Statfjord A are now being transported back to the platform and the activity is being normalised." "The oil spill response action continues this evening," it added.No people were seriously injured in the accident. Two people had, however, been "slightly exposed to gas, but they are both feeling fine and have been given medical attention," the statement added.A total of three rigs work in the Statfjord field, which produces 150,000 barrels of oil a day.Production on the affected platform had been suspended to deal with the leak and would remain down for several days, StatoilHydro said.Other rigs are also connected to Statfjord: around six million cubic metres of natural gas and between 470,000 and 480,000 barrels of oil transit the field every day, according to statistics provided by the Norwegian oil authorities.The Statfjord A platform was last in trouble when more than 4,000 cubic metres of oil poured into the sea as it was being piped from the rig to a loading buoy last December, creating the second largest oil spill in Norway's history.The Scandinavian country is the world's fifth largest oil exporter and the third largest exporter of gas.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080524/bs_afp/norwayaccidentoil_080524173638;_ylt=Aj395auCsdSMpdO7VCC4I_uFOrgF
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