Equinor Starts Damage Control Ops Following Sleipner B Outage

The Sleipner field in the North Sea (Credit: Øyvind Gravås and Bo B. Randulff / Equinor)

Norway's Equinor has started monitoring operations of the Sleipner B platform in the North Sea, following the outage due to smoke development reported in one of its electrical facilities.

The emergency vessels Skandi Mongstad and Esvagt Bergen have used seawater to cool down the platform from a distance during October 22, when the smoke in the switchgear room was first reported.

The vessels will remain stationed outside the unmanned Sleipner B platform and monitor the situation for as long as necessary, Equinor said.

Also, a SAR helicopter will fly over the platform with a thermal imaging camera to monitor the situation.

According to the company, there is no danger to life and health as the production from Sleipner B has been shut down, and the platform is depressurized and without power.

Equinor has also confirmed that the reduction in gas exports resulting from this incident will not have any consequences for the commitments the company made made to its customers.

Sleipner B is an unmanned production platform located in the Sleipner Vest area in the North Sea, 12.5 km away from the Sleipner A platform.