Fire on the Johan Sverdrup platform of Equinor – E24

At the Johan Sverdrup field, west of the sea for Stavanger, Equinor has had a swimming buoy for testing.

The buoy can be launched into the water and controlled remotely in a situation with one person overboard.

On January 25, such a swimming buoy was stored on the residential rig in the giant oil field when the lithium battery in the buoy heated up and began to burn.

– The swimming buoy was not loading. It was temporarily stored in a dirty laundry after testing after being used the same day, says spokesperson Morten Eek at Equinor.

He claims the alarm went off and the fire was quickly extinguished.

– It was considered that it was not necessary to close production. Personnel were assembled aboard the homes and it was quickly seen that all were in place and no one was injured. After the fire was extinguished, it was necessary to clean and wash because of the soot, says Eek.

A total of 342 were on board the four platforms in the Johan Sverdrup field when the fire alarm was triggered.

The Norwegian Petroleum Safety Authority has been notified of the fire and Equinor will investigate it itself.

– The swimming buoy is for our test and is not used in any of our other courses.

– And with fire it can be determined that the test was not successful?

– There is at least something that needs to be followed up and it will be a natural part of the investigation. A rig fire is something we take seriously. The fire was quickly discovered and its development was halted, says Eek.