Raging North Sea storms closes oil platforms, Europe's largest port
Pastor Dale Morgan
Raging North Sea storms closes oil platforms, Europe's largest port*
AFP - Friday, November 9
LONDON (AFP) - - A storm in the North Sea forced the closure Thursday of
oil platforms off the Norwegian coast as well as Europe's largest port
as British forecasters warned of the worst swells in 20 years.
Authorities in Rotterdam announced they planned to close the giant
barrier that guards access to the Dutch port for the first time since
its construction in the 1990s, shutting off sea traffic until at least
0500 GMT on Friday.
The Netherlands also stepped up surveillance of all the seawalls along
its coast for the first time since 1976. One third of the Dutch land
mass is below sea level.
In Britain, Prime Minister Gordon Brown chaired a meeting of the
government's emergency response cell after a series of flood warnings
were issued across eastern England which looks onto the North Sea.
Britain's Met Office warned of gusts of up to 90 miles (145 kilometres)
per hour for the Orkney and Shetland islands off northern Scotland, and
said the combination of high tides and strong winds could play havoc
further south.
"The height of the surge we are expecting on Friday morning happens
around once every 20 years or so," said Stewart Wortley, the head of
storm tide forecasting.
Addressing the House of Commons, Environment Secretary Hilary Benn said
police would be on standby in areas most at risk, and said the threat
would peak Friday but could last for 48 hours.
In all, six severe flood warnings were issued in the Anglian region
northeast of London, with three flood warnings in place for the
northeast English coast.
Flood warnings were also issued in Germany, around the Elbe and Ems rivers.
The impending storm had already dealt a blow to Norwegian oil production
which was expected to be cut by 10 percent, or 220,000 barrels per day,
after Britain's BP closed its Valhall platform and US firm
ConocoPhillips announced it was shutting down five platforms in the
Ekofisk oilfield.
The closures come as the price of a barrel of oil hovered around record
highs of 95-96 dollars a barrel on international markets.
Forecasters and oil company officials said they expected the situation
to improve quickly after the main impact of the storm overnight, but a
BP spokesman said the Valhall platform would be out of action "for a few
days".
"The weather outlook for Friday looks slightly better," ConocoPhillips
spokesman in Norway Stig Kvendseth told AFP. "It won't take us long to
get started again."
The Ekofisk field normally produces 140,000 bpd.
BP evacuated a group of its workers from the Valhall platform, which
totally suspended its 80,000 bpd production.
Norway is the world's fifth largest exporter of crude. In September it
produced 2.179 million barrels per day.