Gas leaks on Statoil’s Asgard field

Norwegian state-owned oil company Statoil has launched an investigation into a gas leak on the company’s Åsgard field offshore Norway. 

Åsgard is the Statoil-operated crude oil, condensate and gas field, located in Haltenbanken in the Norwegian Sea, around 200 kilometers off mid-Norway and 50 kilometers south of the Heidrun field.

The country’s business news website Stavanger Aftenblad reported that 25 tons of natural gas leaked on the Åsgard field last Friday. The incident prompted an investigation by the operating company, the report added.

The Norwegian offshore safety watchdog, the Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA), also launched an investigation into the gas leak.

The news website further said that the leak occurred in connection with the Odfjell Drilling-owned semi-submersible drilling rig Deepsea Bergen, which was performing the work on the Åsgard field for Statoil. The oil company recently drilled a wildcat and an exploration well in the Norwegian Sea’s Mim prospect using the Deepsea Bergen drilling rig. The wells proved gas.

There were no injuries as a result of the incident on the Åsgard field.

The PSA also stated that the incident occurred during the preparation for well operation with the Deepsea Bergen. The gas leak must have leaked from the seafloor manifold to the sea and it lasted for 20 minutes, the safety watchdog added.

Offshore Energy Today has reached out to Statoil seeking confirmation of this report as well as further details about the incident. A spokesperson for the company confirmed the gas leak at one subsea template at the Åsgard field.

The spokesperson also added: “The gas leak occurred during an ROV operation preparing for a well intervention. Production from the wells at the subsea template was shut down. Production from the rest of the Asgard field runs as normal.”

The Åsgard field is developed with an oil production vessel, Åsgard A, semi-submersible gas and condensate processing platform, Åsgard B, and a condensate storage vessel tied back to the field, Åsgard C.

The entire Åsgard field development ranks among the largest developments on the NCS, embracing a total of 63 production and injection wells drilled through 19 subsea templates.

Offshore Energy Today Staff