Tuesday, 27 November 2007, 16:59 GMT
Shell platform fire extinguished

A fire which broke out on a Shell platform has been extinguished.

The fire happened on the North Cormorant platform, which is 109 miles north east of Shetland.

The "small fire" broke out at 0042 GMT on Tuesday and Shell said it was "quickly contained" by the platform fire protection system.

Shell said the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has been informed. The incident happened less than 48 hours after a fire on another oil platform.

Confirming details of the latest incident, Shell said the platform returned to normal status at 0057 GMT and no-one was hurt.

Offshore safety

Workers on the platform went to muster stations when the fire broke out in the turbine hood of a water injection pump.

A team from Shell will fly out to investigate.

Details of the incident emerged after First Minister Alex Salmond's call for the Scottish Government to handle North Sea offshore safety in Scots waters was dismissed by Westminster.

Mr Salmond had spoken out as an inquiry into a fire on the Thistle Alpha platform at the weekend got under way.

The HSE launched an investigation at that site, 120 miles north east of Shetland.