Oslo - An oil exploration platform with 54 people aboard run by Norway's state oil company went adrift in the North Sea yesterday after it broke loose from its moorings due to stormy weather and high seas, a Statoil spokesman said.
"We do not regard the situation as critical," spokesman Mr Kristofer said. Mr Hetland said 71 people were aboard the rig, the Byford Dolphin, when it broke loose from its moorings as it was pounded by waves of almost eight metres. Seventeen of them left the rig aboard a helicopter in a departure that had been planned before the mishap, he said.