November 14, 2019November 19, 2019 by trude

Fire on Statfjord C

by Trude Meland, Norwegian Petroleum Museum

All production from Statfjord C was crippled for almost two days when a fire broke out in a module beneath the drill floor.

— One of the south-facing exhaust pipes on Statfjord C. Photo: Shades Barka Martins/Norwegian Petroleum Museum

Three Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) personnel were already on the field for other reasons. But the regulator regarded the incident as so serious that it sent out two more people.

They formed an investigation team together with Statoil representatives, which concluded that the blaze occurred when oil used to mix the drilling mud caught fire.

The immediate cause was a piping leak. This caused oil to spurt onto the exterior of the platform, where it came into contact with a red-hot turbine exhaust and burst into flame.

No fire-fighting equipment was available in the area, but the blaze was put out within 25 minutes by the water monitors on a stand-by ship. Since the fire was confined to the sea, however, it would probably have burnt itself out anyway.

Sources

Norwegian Petroleum Directorate: Utvikling i risikonivå – norsk sokkel . Pilotprosjektrapport for 2000. Stavanger 2001.
Norwegian Oil Industry Association (OLF). Etablering av områdeberedskap. 30 June 2000.

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Published November 14, 2019 • Updated November 19, 2019