Premier evacuates workers from Balmoral

Premier Oil-operated Balmoral floating production vessel in the UK North Sea has reportedly been evacuated.

 According to the Evening Express, a daily local newspaper serving the city of Aberdeen in Scotland, Premier-oil last night removed all non-essential personnel from the unit, due to a lack of lifeboat capacity on the installation.

The newspaper has quoted a Premier Oil spokesperson who said that it would take three days “to return to full lifeboat capacity.”

When contacted by Offshore Energy Today, an HSE spokesperson said:“HSE can confirm that we are aware [of the Balmoral evacuation] and making initial enquiries”

Premier Oil did not reply to an e-mail seeking comment.

The Balmoral FPV, anchored 200 kilometers northeast of Aberdeen,  is a combined production, drilling, diving and quarters semi-submersible. The unit is designed for the Balmoral field, and has been operating permanently on location since first oil in November 1986.

The Balmoral area fields – Balmoral, Stirling, Brenda & Nicol – are located in Blocks 16/21a and 16/21b in the UK Central North Sea.

This is the second North Sea platform evacuation in only two days. Oil giant Shell on Tuesday removed non-essential workers from its Nelson platform after a power outage.