Mouse on Statfjord A

by Trude Meland, Norwegian Petroleum Museum

Rodents and other animals are neither normal not welcome residents on offshore platforms. In November 1978, however, a mouse was spotted in the control room on Statfjord A.

— Newspaper headlines from when Statfjord A were threatened by mice.

Two Mobil employees reacted promptly, and managed to corral the stowaway behind a sheet of metal which they then used to crush it to death.

The mouse had probably come aboard by hiding in cargo being brought out to the platform on a supply ship. A rat had previously been killed in a similar fashion.

Great damage could have been caused if the mouse had gnawed on and destroyed some of the many vital cables which came into the control room.

According to the platform manager, it “could have caused damage worth millions of kroner and delayed the whole timetable for the Statfjord development if it hadn’t been spotted in time”.

Rat poison and mousetraps were subsequently deployed, along with highly visible signs which alerted crew to the unusual problem.