Oil worker killed, rigs evacuated in North Sea

Oil giant BP said all 235 people working on eight platforms in the Valhall oilfield were being moved to nearby facilities as a precautionary measure on Thursday.

On Tuesday, BP was forced to evacuate its Valhall platform after a barge broke anchor and drifted towards the installation.

ConocoPhillips’ Ekofisk platform in the North Sea was also being evacuated on Thursday morning, according to the Norwegian broadcaster TV2.

“The barge has changed direction and BP has chose to shut production [at Valhall] and there will be a total demanning of the platform”.

This prompted the oil and gas company to shut down output and evacuate dozens of staff on board. Another 50 were evacuated after the accident, and a Petroleum Safety Authority Norway spokeswoman tells Reuters that they had to be lifted off the platform because winds were too strong for a helicopter to land. “There are no other installations between the barge and the coast of Norway”, Borghild Eldoen said.

“The rig had been taken off the well as a result of the bad weather before the incident occurred”, Statoil said in a release.

The evacuations came a day after one person died and two were injured when a big wave hit a rig belonging to China Oilfield Services Ltd that had been drilling at the Statoil-operated Troll field, also in the North Sea. The wave damaged the rig’s accommodation module. Some 85 workers were left aboard as a tug boat was trying to regain control of the 360-foot barge.

Royal Dutch Shell Plc said it hasn’t heard of any of its North Sea fields being affected.