Incident at ENI Woollybutt facility suspends production

Italian-owned ENI Australia Ltd shut down production at its Woollybutt joint venture with Tap Oil Ltd and Mobil after a safety incident forced the evacuation of personnel.

Eni said no-one was injured and no damage was incurred but it was investigating the source of gas found on board.

Below is the full announcement from Tap:

Tap Oil Limited ("Tap") advises that oil production from the Woollybutt Field was suspended following an incident as described in the attached Eni statement.
Location
The Woollybutt Field is located in permit WA-25-L off the coast of Western Australia, approximately 40km west of Barrow Island.
Progress
Subsequent to the initial event on 9th April the Operator of the facility (AFM/Premuda)
and the permit operator (Eni) have initiated investigations as to the causes of the
incident.
Tap Comment
Tap is in discussions with Eni to determine when the facility will be returned to production. Should this shut down extend, Tap will provide an update once the start up date can be confirmed. This event has not impacted the reserves of the field, with production deferred for the period of the shutdown.
WA-25-L Joint Venture Participants:
Tap West Pty Ltd 15%
Eni Australia Ltd (Operator) 65%
Mobil Australia Resource Co Pty Ltd 20%

Below is the link for Eni's Statement regarding the incident on Woollybutt FPSO
Facility - 9 April 2008.
http://www.eni.it/en_IT/media/09-04-2008-incidente-australia.shtml
"Eni Australia Ltd informs that an incident has occurred on April 9 on the Floating Production Storage Offtake facility (FPSO) Four Vanguard, located on the Woollybutt field. No injuries or damage to the facility have been registered.
At approximately 04:30am free hydrocarbon gas was detected onboard. As a precautionary measure the operator of the facility, Australian FPSO Management (AFM/Premuda) decided to evacuate all non-essential personnel. The evacuation has been successfully completed. Production is currently shut in and will be restarted only when the causes of the incident will be fully understood and addressed.
The Woollybutt field has currently a production potential of about 5,000 bopd (about 3,250 bopd Eni share). The incident does not impact the current plan to tie back the recently successful well Woollybutt-4H in late May 2008.
AFM/Premuda is responsible of operating the FPSO Four Vanguard under a contract with Eni Australia Ltd. ExxonMobil and Tap Oil are partners with Eni Australia in the Woollybutt field."