Norwegian oil firm Equinor, published a statement according to which an oil spill was observed during a loading operation in the North Sea offshore Norway on Wednesday, May 15.
The company noted that when loading oil from buoy to shuttle tanker on the North Sea Statfjord field, oil was observed on the sea surface.
When the oil spill was discovered, the loading systems were halted.
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In the meantime, efforts have been initiated to map the extent of the oil observed on the sea surface.
The loading operations were stopped when this was discovered, and the loading systems were shut down. Efforts have been initiated to map the extent of the oil observed on the sea surface
In compliance with regular procedures Equinor’s emergency response organisation was quickly mobilized, and the authorities were notified, in order to acknowledge the importance of the oil spill.
The buoy, which is part of the loading system, is located 2 kilometers from the nearest Statfjord platform so oil production is continuing as normal, an Equinor spokesman said.
The Statfjord field has been developed with the Statfjord A, B and C production platforms, which all have concrete gravity base structures incorporating storage cells. The Statfjord A started production in 1979, Statfjord B in 1982, and finally Statfjord C in 1985.