Norwegian energy company Equinor has shut down production at its Visund oil and gas platform in the North Sea after a fire broke out in an electrical switchboard room on Wednesday, 4 November.
What happened
- Smoke and then flames were reported shortly before 11am local time in a room housing equipment that controls and distributes power across the platform.
- All 128 people on board were accounted for. About 70 were evacuated or moved to nearby installations, and no one was injured.
- The fire was put out by mid-afternoon, Equinor spokeswoman Ellen Maria Skjelsbæk said, though work to bring the situation fully under control continued.
Production and gas exports
Output was stopped as a precaution, and repairs are needed before it can restart. The cause has not been determined and no restart date has been set. Equinor has reported the incident to the authorities.
Gas operator Gassco said Visund’s available export capacity was cut to 2.5 million cubic metres a day on Thursday and was due to fall to zero for the following gas day. The field can export up to about 13.2 million cubic metres a day.
About Visund
The field lies in the Tampen area of the North Sea, north-east of Gullfaks, and has produced since 1999. Its gas is piped through the Kvitebjørn pipeline to the Kollsnes processing plant. Equinor operates it with a 53.2% stake; partners are Petoro (30%), ConocoPhillips (9.1%) and Repsol (7.7%).
Based on reporting by Splash247, 5 November 2026.
Photo: Representative image of an offshore support vessel in the North Sea region; not the Visund platform. Gordon Leggett / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
