Drilling work on a North Sea field has been suspended after a safety breach underneath the Bredford Dolphin rig yesterday.
The rig, operated by Lundin Petroleum, was drilling on the giant Johan Sverdrup discovery when the riser under the deck of the rig suffered a breach.
The well, which began drilling two weeks ago, has now been shut in and secured, with Lundin insisting there was no risk of an oil leak.
High winds of more than 55mph in the North Sea prevented the company from evacuating the 88 staff on board the rig, and prevented the rig from rejoining with the disconnected well.
“No one was affected by this incident and all 88 persons on board the rig are safe,” said Lundin managing director Torstein Sanness.
The riser, situated 65m beneath the deck of the rig, contained mud and chemicals when it broke away. Investigations into the cause of the incident are now under way.
Emergency response teams have been mobilised by Lundin, although it is understood the chemicals are approved by Norwegian authorities and not regarded as dangerous to the environment.
The incident occurred in the Norwegian North Sea on a well around 85 miles from the Rogaland coast, with water depth estimated to be around 380ft.
The company said its emergency response organisation was coordinating support services and has contacted all relevant authorities.
In a statement it said: “Every possible action is being taken to get an overview of the situation and to confirm details of the incident.”
Johan Sverdup is considered one of the biggest discoveries off Norway since 1974 with as many as 2.8billion barrels of crude.
Last month it emerged that the project’s partners postponed a decision on how to develop its resources.
The firms behind the field – including Sweden’s Lundin, as well as Norse state-owned giant Statoil, Det norske and Maersk Oil – had been due to announce in December what concept had been picked to develop the find.
But the concept decision has now been postponed until early this year, with production start-up not expected to begin until the end of 2019.
Initial investment in the project is set to cost the partners in the field up to £13billion.
The Sverdrup field will, once fully operational, produce up to 200,000 barrels of oil per day.