Awwal 05, 1432 / April 09, 2011, SPA -- A gas leak on an oil platform off Norway's west coast forced the evacuation of 63 workers Saturday, officials said. No injuries were reported. Rig operator Statoil said the leak at the Visund platform was stopped just before 1:00 p.m. (1100 GMT), almost five hours after the company was first informed of the incident. Norway's Petroleum Safety Authority said it will launch an investigation. "It's difficult to say how serious the leak is," authority spokesman Oyvind Midttun told Norwegian news agency NTB. "But a hydrocarbon leak is always serious regardless." Midttun said the regulatory authority did not automatically investigate incidents of this kind. "In this case, it was the particular nature of the incident that prompted us to make the decision," he said. Sixty of the 123 people working at the platform stayed behind to bring the leak under control, Siv Namork of Norway's Joint Rescue Coordination Center told The Associated Press. Statoil said the leak most likely occurred in a fixed riser carrying oil and gas from a well to the platform. The company said it was now preparing to return the workers to the rig after their evacuation to two nearby platforms. The Visund platform is located in an oil and gas field about 90 miles (150 kilometers) northwest of the coastal city of Bergen.
