Statoil is working to secure a well drilled from its Snorre A platform in the North Sea, after drilling fluid was lost during operations on Saturday night.
Drilling fluid is used to maintain pressure in a well during drilling. Statoil said it was able to quickly reduce the loss of drilling fluid into the reservoir, but that adverse weather conditions made it uncertain as to when a supply vessel might be able to get new drilling fluid supplies to the platform.
As a precaution, 117 of the total 254 people on the platform were transferred to Gullfaks A and Gullfaks C.
The well is being cemented and closed, and once this has been completed, and new drilling fluid has been received on board, the personnel will return to Snorre A.
Spanning blocks 34/4 and 34/7, in the Tampen area of the Norwegian North Sea, Snorre has been producing oil and gas since August 1992.
The Snorre development comprises two platforms, A and B.
Snorre A is an integrated production, drilling and quarters unit on a tension leg platform, which is moored to the seabed by steel tethers.
Partly stabilised oil and gas from Snorre A is piped to the nearby Statfjord A platform for final processing.
The oil is then loaded into shuttle tankers, while the gas is transported on to continental Europe through the Statpipe system and to St Fergus, Scotland through the Tampen link.
Last week, Lundin Petroleum reported a drilling incident on the Bredford Dolphin, which is being used to drill well 16/3-8 S on the Johan Sverdrup field, in Production License 501.
During drilling operations, there was a breach in the riser 65m under the deck of the rig. Lundin said the safety distance to the reservoir was good, which meant there was no risk of hydrocarbons flowing.
The well was shut in and under control, the BOP closed and the well fully secured.
When the riser parted it contained water-based mud and "yellow chemicals", which are approved by the authorities and not categorised as environmentally damaging.
Lundin said its emergency response organisation was coordinating support services and had contacted all relevant authorities.
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