Lifeboat Issues May Cut Norway Winter Oil Output

Norwegian oil and gas output this winter may be reduced by the need to remove personnel from offshore platforms during severe weather because of problems with lifeboats, StatoilHydro ASA (STO) said Wednesday.

“Throughout the winter, StatoilHydro will have to continue transferring personnel on some platforms in adverse weather conditions,” because of concerns that freefall lifeboats installed on some platforms are unsafe, the company said in a statement.
“During the winter, StatoilHydro will be able to transfer personnel from some platforms without production being affected. In most cases this could mean that maintenance and project work will be postponed,” the company said.

“In extreme cases production could be affected on some platforms during parts of the winter.”

This week some of the crew on the Visund and Asgard B platforms in the North Sea were airlifted to other platforms nearby or to the mainland because of a temporary limitation in evacuation capacity due to the problem lifeboats, which could be unsafe if waves exceed a certain height in specific wind directions, the company said.

Wall Street Journal (through Google News)