Well incident at Songa Endurance

On Saturday 15 October a well control incident occurred on the drilling rig Songa Endurance. The well has now been secured with a blowout preventer around the drill string on the seabed and with a valve on the rig.

Work is now being carried out to stabilise the well.

Personnel without work assignments in connection with the incident will now be removed from the rig.

The incident was reported to the company’s alarm centre at 9:50 am CET on Saturday. There were 107 people on board when the incident occurred. No injuries were reported and there is no risk of an oil spill.

Songa Endurance was working on the G4 well in the Troll field near Troll B when complications arose.

Complications occurred during the work on removing the production string from the well. The blowout preventer was then activated and the well is now closed.

There is still pressure in the well and work is now being carried out to stabilise the well. Fluid for stabilising the well is being sent out to the rig from land to be able to perform this work. These supplies are expected to arrive at the field at around 8 pm CET this evening. Extra specialist personnel are on the way to the rig to assist those on board.

Statoil and Songa Offshore have mobilised their emergency response organisations. The emergency response vessel Stril Merkur is at the field and other resources, including helicopters, are available.

Weather conditions are good.

The Troll field is located in the northern part of the North Sea, approximately 65 kilometres west of Kollsnes in Hordaland. The field extends over an area of 750 square kilometres in blocks 31/2, 31/3, 31/5 and 31/6 in the North Sea.