Norwegian oil platforms shut down over faulty lifeboats

Oslo - Two Norwegian offshore oil platforms were ordered to shut down over problems with their lifeboats, the state Petroleum Safety Authority said Friday. The order, affecting about 10 per cent of the country's daily oil production, applied for the Snorre A platform operated by Norwegian energy giant Statoil and the Shell-operated Draugen platform. Lifeboats are key for the evacuation of oil workers should an explosion or fire occur on the platforms that are located some 100 kilometres off the coast. Statoil said the shutdown of the Snorre A, and the remotely- operated Vigdis platform, would affect production of about 200,000 barrels per day of oil. Most crew were being evacuated from the platform pending repairs and modification of the lifeboats, likely to last a week, Statoil said. Shell said it had also started to evacuate non-essential staff from the Draugen platform that produces some 80,000 barrels of oil per day. The Petroleum Safety Authority was alerted about the possible lifeboat faults by the Norwegian Oil Industry Association (OLF) which suggested structural faults meant the lifeboats could not be dropped by free fall from the platforms. The government watchdog said it approved exemptions for six other platforms, citing they had alternative evacuation systems. © 2006 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur

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