North Sea scrutiny after oil worker’s death

THE safety record of the North Sea industry is once again under scrutiny after a fatal accident caused BP’S Norwegian spin-off to shut off production from the rig while investigations took place.

One person was confirmed dead, and another injured, after an accident on a Maersk-owned drilling rig in the Tambar oilfield, which is owned by Aker BP and London-listed Faroe Petroleum.

Karl Johnny Hersvik, the chief executive of Aker BP, said the company has co-operated closely with Maersk Drilling and will “do everything we can to take care of those affected and their families in this difficult situation”. Faroe, which owns 45pc of the project, said that the accident was reported on Thursday but how the incident occurred had not yet been clarified.

In the past decade only seven workrelated fatalities were reported in the UK North Sea, compared with 19 the previous decade.