Fears have been raised over cost-cutting in the oil and gad industry after three separate incidents over the past couple of days.
Norwegian oil workers have said they are concerned over the incidents which happened on Statoil’s Troll field, Gullfaks A platform and Statfjord A platform.
On Saturday, the operator had experience a problem with well pressure on a North Sea drilling rig while on Sunday output was halted from both the Gullfaks A and Stafjord A platforms due to a fire and a gas leak.
The leader of SAFE union, Hilde-Marit Rysst, said: “We are definitely concerned by this weekend’s incidents…we have long been emphasising that we are concerned over cost cuts on maintenance and staff.”
Norway’s safety watchdog, the Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA) has previously raised concerns over the impact of cost cutting.
What We Know So Far: Statoil hit by trio of incidents offshore Norway
Leif Sande, the leader of the IndustriEnergi union, said: “It is obvious that when something like this happens, you consider whether you have gone too far in the cost cutting.”
A spokesman for Statoil said: “At a time of change and restructuring, we put great emphasis on controlling risks.”
Production at Gullfaks A has restarted but it is not yet clear when it will resume from Stafjord A.
The risk of accidents in Norway’s oil industry rose last year after reaching record lows in 2014, a survey by the Nordic country’s safety watchdog earlier this year.
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