On Wednesday November 10, Statoil decided to halt the drilling operations that were underway at the Gullfaks field in the North Sea.

The drilling and well operations were stopped at Gullfaks for an additional review of Statoil's routines for planning and conducting drilling operations.

On Friday October 29, Statoil presented the report from its own internal investigation after the incident involving the Gullfaks well C-06 on May 20. After the report's publication, Statoil and the Petroleum Safety Authority of Norway (Ptil) have maintained a dialogue on the contents of the report, and Ptil's own inspection.

'We wish to double-check that the ongoing drilling and well operations are in accordance with Statoil's procedures and the short term measures that were identified in our internal investigation after the C-06 incident,' says senior vice president of Drilling and Well, Geir Slora.

A controlled shut-down of drilling and well operations is now being conducted at the field.

Production is continuing as normal from the Gullfaks field and associated satellite fields.

'We are continuing our dialogue with Ptil and will recommence drilling and well operations as soon as possible,' says Slora.

Tags: Statoil