Statoil halts North Sea platform over corrosion risk

Norway's Statoil said Thursday that it had suspended production at a North Sea platform responsible for nearly a tenth of the country's daily oil output over corrosion concerns. Production was suspended on the Troll C platform pending the results of an investigation after a routine inspection found corrosion in a system for gas treatment, the state-owned oil major said. Troll C's production represents around eight percent of Norway's total daily output, which reached 1,473 million barrels of oil per day in October. The platform, located in the Scandinavian country's biggest gas field, also produces 10.5 million cubic metres (371 million cubic feet) of natural gas per day. Statoil holds a 30.58 percent stake in the project, together with publicly owned Petoro (56 percent), Anglo-Dutch Shell (8.1 percent), France's Total (3.7 percent) and US-based ConocoPhillips (1.6 percent), according to the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate.