From the North Sea (NT): Production from Statoil’s Njord (29/24) field in the Norwegian Sea is likely to remain shut in until next summer as unplanned work needs to be carried out on the fpu.

Statoil has announced that it decided not to resume production after this year’s Maintenance turnaround, which began in late July, as analysis and inspections revealed that some of the deck structures are overloaded and a number of beams need to be reinforced.

Njord has undergone a good deal of modification in recent years: for the tieback of the Hyme field (30/xx) which came onstream in February; for a switch to low pressure production; and for the drilling of two wells into the Njord Northwest reservoir. This latter operation was suspended last year to allow other higher-priority work to move ahead in the queue.

Other arrangements may have to be modified because of this unplanned programme. Work on the platform is currently being supported by the semi accommodation unit Floater Superior, which is due to move to Kvitebjørn in January as part of the Valemon development, but may have to be retained, or replaced, at Njord.

The Njord fsu is also due for a four or five month port visit in 2014 for maintenance. It would certainly be timely if that visit takes place while the fpu is out of action.

Meanwhile Statoil has been criticised for failing to report until June a seabed leak of oil and chemicals under the platform which was identified in early 2011.

‘We take such releases seriously,’ said Ellen Hambro, head of the Norwegian Environment Agency. ‘Companies are under an obligation to report releases immediately.’

Statoil estimates that a total of 3,400t of polluting material leaked out over a period of seven years (1999 to 2006), possibly from an injection well.