Statoil Says Mistakes, Lack Of Maintenance Led To Troll, Mongstad Accidents

OSLO, Jan 20 (Reuters) - Accidents at Statoil's giant Troll gas field and the Mongstad refinery in October last year were caused by operational mistakes and wrong prioritisation of maintenance, the Norwegian oil major concluded in an investigation on Friday.

Statoil said it has decided to intensify the maintenance programme at Mongstad over the next two years and will change the procedures in drilling wells at its fields to prevent similar incidents in the future.

Norway's Labour Minister has appointed an independent commission to investigate whether the spate of recent accidents are related to the oil industry's ongoing efforts to cut costs and improve profitability after a plunge in crude prices.

In December, Statoil released reports on two other accidents, one of which injured five people, including two students on work placement, but the company said it had not found evidence linking those events to its cost cuts.

(Reporting by Terje Solsvik and Nerijus Adomaitis, editing by Gwladys Fouche)