Fire leads to evacuation of oil ship

A FLOATING production, storage and offloading vessel in the Central North Sea is being partially downmanned following a small fire on the vessel.

A small fire led to the evacuation of the vessel. Picture: Reuters

Aberdeen-based Dana Petroleum today confirmed that a number of crew on board the Triton FPSO were being flown back to shore today as the result of a “minor incident” on board the facility, 120 miles East of Aberdeen.

A spokesman for the oil company said: “Dana Petroleum can confirm that there was a minor incident on its Triton Floating, Production, Storage and Offloading vessel (FPSO) in the UK North Sea on Monday. Smoke and sparks were seen coming from the coupling on an emergency generator at 11.40am. This was extinguished immediately using a hand-held fire extinguisher. No one was injured in the incident.”

He continued: “As a result of the incident a number of crew are being returned onshore during normal crew rotation today due to the loss of some platform services. The platform is currently shut down for maintenance.

“The relevant authorities have been informed in line with normal procedure. Dana Petroleum takes the safety and welfare of its employees and contractors very seriously and will conduct a full investigation into the incident.”

Dana Petroleum became the operators of the FPSO last October. The facility, which normally has a total crew of around 70 personnel, produces oil and gas from the Bittern, Clapham, Pict, Saxon, Guillemot West and North West fields.