Equinor plans to inspect the damage at its Sleipner B natural gas platform on Wednesday, following its shutdown earlier this week. Despite the incident, Norway’s energy giant remains committed to meeting its gas supply obligations.
On Tuesday, Equinor reported that its Emergency Response team was alerted to smoke in a switchgear room at the unmanned Sleipner B platform at 4:40 a.m. local time. As a precaution, production has been halted, and the facility has been depressurized.
In an update provided at noon on Wednesday, the company stated that emergency vessels Skandi Mongstad and Esvagt Bergen had been cooling the platform with seawater from a safe distance throughout the day. These vessels will stay on site to monitor the situation for as long as necessary. Additionally, Equinor will deploy a helicopter equipped with a thermal imaging camera to further assess the platform.
“The reduction in gas exports due to this incident will not affect our commitments to customers,” Equinor emphasized in its latest statement.
According to data from Gassco, Norway’s gas export system operator, the Sleipner B platform is expected to remain offline until at least October 28. However, the exact duration of the shutdown is still uncertain.
Despite the platform’s closure, gas supply to Europe from Norway, its largest supplier, remains stable.
European gas prices have seen a slight increase over the past two days, rising by 1.4% in Amsterdam as of 12:17 a.m. This price hike is attributed to concerns over supply due to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East and the shutdown of the Sleipner B platform.
Data from Gas Infrastructure Europe shows that the EU’s natural gas storage is currently 95% full. The bloc achieved its target of 90% full storage back in August, well ahead of the November 1 deadline.
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