Five injured after exposure to H2S gas at Statoil’s Sture terminal in Norway

Five people working at Statoil’s Sture terminal in Hordaland, Norway, were injured after being exposed to hydrogen sulphide (H2S) gas.

They were exposed to the gas at the time of working at a treatment facility for oily water inside the terminal area.

Statoil, which carried out gas readings, said there is no risk of further exposure and cordoned off the affected area.

The police have begun an investigation to determine the cause of the incident and further plan to conduct investigations together with the Petroleum Safety Authority Norway.

Statoil decided to conduct its own investigations into the incident.

The company has notified emergency services and the authorities, as well as mobilised its emergency response organisation at both Sture and in Stavanger.

Statoil’s Sture terminal serves as a vital export port for crude oil, which arrives through pipeline from the Oseberg area and the Grane field in the North Sea.

The facility features a plant for recovering volatile organic compounds (VOC) and consists of two jetties that can berth tankers up to 300,000 deadweight tonnes, in addition to five artificial rock caverns for crude with a total capacity of one million cubic metres.

Sture’s processing facilities recover the lightest components from the crude, which are extracted as an LPG mix and naphtha.