Norway Rig Evacuation Safely Completed

Statoil reported late Wednesday that all its personnel, apart from security staff, on the Floatel Superior rig were evacuated safely after an incident that saw the rig list by up to four degrees on Wednesday morning.

Three helicopters operated a shuttle service to remove workers from the rig to the nearby Njord A platform. After landing on Njord A, the personnel were taken to a reception center in Kristiansund.

Statoil said that a total of 326 workers were evacuated while 48 people tasked with emergency duties remained on the accommodation rig, which is now being prepared for removal out of the safety zone around Njord A.

The Petroleum Safety Authority also reported that it had demobilized its emergency response center – which was set up to supervise the operator's management of the incident – at 2 p.m. Norwegian time on Wednesday. The PSA has now began investigating the incident, it said.

The PSA was notified about the incident at 4:15 a.m. Norwegian time with a report that an anchor had punctured one of the rig's ballast tanks. This led to the rig developing a list of three-to-four degrees.

The Floatel Superior rig is a dynamically positioned semisubmersible unit that can accommodate up to 440 people when operating on the Norwegian Continental Shelf.