By the OGJ Online Staff
HOUSTON, Aug. 15 -- Statoil ASA, Stavanger, on Wednesday halted production from Åsgard B platform in the Norwegian Sea and reduced output from Åsgard A ship following a leak from a gas flowline between the two.
The discovery may cause Statoil to reevaluate welds earlier determined safe. Earlier this year, Statoil discovered 72 weak welds in hubs on Åsgard field. It determined that only 24 of the welds had to be repaired.
"The leak which has now occurred is in one of the flowlines that were previously given the all-clear, so we have decided to shut down production where we presumed earlier that there were no weaknesses," said Henrik Carlsen, executive vice-president for Exploration & Production Norway.
Parts of the field will be closed until the cause of the leak is verified. Statoil said it expects to retrieve the flowline and inspect the leakage site within 10-14 days.
Statoil said that other fields will supply contractual requirements from the units.
Condensate production from Åsgard B amounts to about 45,000 b/d, while gas is dependent on customer nominations, said Statoil.
Oil production on Åsgard A will be reduced to 145,000 b/d from 165,000 b/d as a result of the shutdown.