Equinor Shuts Down Gullfaks C Platform Following Well Incident in North Sea

On Sunday, Norway's Equinor, which is an energy company, stopped production at its Gullfaks C platform. This platform is located in the North Sea, which is a part of the ocean off the coast of Norway.

The reason for shutting down the production was because of an incident related to one of the wells at the platform.

As a safety measure, they also evacuated some of the workers who were on the platform. Evacuating means that they moved the workers away from the platform to ensure their safety, in case the situation with the well got worse or if there were any other risks.

The company spokesperson, who is someone who communicates on behalf of Equinor, provided this information to explain what happened and why these actions were taken.

"We have had a well control incident at Gullfaks C," the company’s spokesperson was as saying by several media reports, adding that the well was "stable".

The company did not know right away when they would be able to start production again at the Gullfaks C platform. This means they weren’t sure how long it would take to fix the problem and get everything running smoothly again.

However, the other platforms in the Gullfaks area—Gullfaks A and Gullfaks B—were still working normally. This means they were continuing to produce oil and gas without any issues.

The Gullfaks C platform mainly produces oil and it focuses on extracting oil from the ground. In addition to just producing oil, it also handles and sends out oil and gas from another nearby area called the Tordis field. So, Gullfaks C is important not only for its own production but also for processing and exporting resources from Tordis.

On Monday, the overall gas production capacity at the Gullfaks field will be significantly reduced by 6.6 million cubic meters per day. This reduction is due to an issue that has arisen at the Gullfaks C platform, which has necessitated a temporary shutdown of operations. The cutback in production reflects the impact of this problem, which has disrupted the field’s output.

The Gullfaks field is a joint venture with multiple stakeholders. Equinor, a major energy company, operates the field and holds a 51% stake, giving it primary control over its operations and decision-making. Petoro, a Norwegian state-owned entity, owns a 30% share and is involved in managing the field’s interests on behalf of the Norwegian government. OMV, an Austrian multinational corporation, holds a 19% stake in the field. Each of these partners plays a role in overseeing the field’s operations and managing its resources.