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Oil group Statoil to resume production at Norwegian platform
AFP
OSLO
Petroleumworld.com 10 25 06
Norway's leading oil company Statoil said Tuesday it was preparing to resume production at its Snorre A platform in the North Sea after a 10-day halt due to safety problems with its lifeboats.
The platform produces some 200,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd) together with the Vigdis field, whose oil transits through Snorre A.
It should resume "shortly", Lars Troen Soerensen, the head of Statoil investor relations, told AFP.
"It normally takes a few days for a platform to resume completely," he said.
The Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA) ordered Snorre A to shut down on October 13 after faults were found on the platform's lifeboats.
Six other platforms were authorized to continue their operations after they presented alternative evacuation plans, while a seventh, Draugen, was temporarily closed but resumed after just a few days.
Inger Anda, a spokeswoman for PSA, confirmed that Snorre A was allowed to gradually resume production as the lifeboats arrive at the site.
"We have no objections from a security point of view," she told AFP.
Another platform, Heidrun, which produces 140,000 bpd, was also temporarily closed last week but has also resumed production, Norwegian media reported.
AFP 24 1544 GMT 10 06
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