(CNN)Violent weather in the North Sea killed an oil worker for a Norwegian firm and, separately, prompted BP to evacuate an oil field because a barge has broken loose and is drifting out of control in the storm.
Statoil, a Norwegian company, and COSL -- China Oilfield Services Limited -- issued a statement saying they had learned "with great sadness" that one person had died and two were injured when a wave broke over a drilling rig Wednesday.The fatal accident happened during a storm in the Troll oil field off the coast of Bergen, an area hit by extreme weather conditions on Wednesday, with waves up to 14 meters high.
The accident occurred when a wave crashed into the accommodation section of the platform.
The helicopters cannot land on the rig, because there are large waves and there is too much movement, so they (staff) are being hoisted up one at a time,” said Sunde.
The rig was in the process of a drilling job, but was, due to the bad weather, disconnected from the well when the accident occurred, the press spokesperson added. Link
The rig, called the COSL Innovator, is under contract to Statoil at the Troll field in the North Sea, west of Bergen, a city on Norway's southwestern coast.
Meanwhile, BP said it is working to completely evacuate a North Sea oil field because a barge is drifting out of control in the turbulent seas.
BP says it employs 235 people in the Valhall oil field. Valhall is in the southern Norwegian North Sea, 210 miles (340 kilometers) southwest of the Norwegian city of Stavanger. The oil field has eight platforms.
Barge drifting north in violent seas
"Throughout the night, four helicopters evacuated people to other nearby platforms and onshore," BP spokesman Toby Odone told CNN.
He said BP planned to shut down the oil field Thursday morning.
The Eide Marine Group, which owns the barge, tells CNN it has located it and is tracking. But a spokesman for the group said it was waiting for daylight before trying to take control of the barge.
The spokesman said the barge is 360 feet (110 meters) long and it became unattached in rough weather while being towed by a tugboat.
The barge is now drifting north, and ConocoPhillips, which operates an oil field to the north of Valhall, is watching warily -- and has evacuated 145 people from the Eldfisk Center.
Production from the Eldfish and Embla oil fields has been shut down, ConocoPhillips said.
Drifting barge forces 235 to evacuate Valhall field