ROUGH WEATHER DISRUPTS OIL FLOW IN U.K. NORTH SEA

Jan. 16, 1995
North Sea fields shut in because of bad weather resumed production last week. Shell U.K. Exploration & Production halted production from Brent A platform Jan. 1 after hydraulic shutdown equipment on the Brent A export pipeline experienced storm damage. The damaged equipment lies on Brent B platform, currently shut down for major refurbishment as part of a platform-by-platform redevelopment program of Brent. Brent A was out of action for 1 week.

North Sea fields shut in because of bad weather resumed production last week.

Shell U.K. Exploration & Production halted production from Brent A platform Jan. 1 after hydraulic shutdown equipment on the Brent A export pipeline experienced storm damage.

The damaged equipment lies on Brent B platform, currently shut down for major refurbishment as part of a platform-by-platform redevelopment program of Brent. Brent A was out of action for 1 week.

Shell Expro also lost production from Kittiwake field a few days later, when the Norrisia offtake tanker had a power failure as it was tied up to the field's loading buoy.

The outage knocked out the tanker's engines, but because wind and tides were in a direction away from Kittiwake platform, the tanker was disconnected manually and allowed to drift.

A tug was mobilized to tow the tanker inshore near Frazerburgh in Northeast Scotland, where an electrical fault was diagnosed and repaired. The tanker was back on the field within a few days.

Chevron U.K. Ltd. lost production for several days from Alba field, which also relies on offshore loading for export of oil from the platform/storage tanker development.

Across the North Sea, Norway's Den norske stats oljeselskap AS had no loss in production from Statfiord and Gullfaks fields, both of which export oil via shuttle tankers.

However, a Statoil official said its had been "touch and go" since Jan. 1 on whether production would need to be held back.

As of Jan. 11, weathermen predicted storms and rough seas will continue for a few days.

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