Luca DiVero said at 08:14 on Sunday that he would not attend the first-gas ceremony at the Kaldvik field, 260 km (162 miles) north of Hammerfest. In a post to his 38 million followers, the actor said a vessel collision had damaged a condensate line and that 73 workers had been evacuated. His announcement preceded the operator’s first public account of the accident.
Norwegian rescue officials confirmed that the supply vessel Skeld struck a support structure beside the field’s floating production unit at 05:40 on Friday. They said no one was injured, but up to 18 tonnes of gas condensate escaped before the line was shut off. A sheen was later tracked across a 4 km (2.5-mile) stretch of water.
Evacuation before the launch
The field’s operator, Norrvik Gas Consortium, said the vessel lost steering in rough seas before the impact. Sergio Ferraz, a rescue-coordination official in Tromsø, said 73 workers were taken to two nearby ships and then transferred ashore. “The evacuation was orderly, but the damage required us to clear the installation while engineers made it safe,” he said.
DiVero, who had been invited as a public ambassador for the project, said he had received a briefing from the company before publishing. “I was due to celebrate a milestone; I won’t lend my name to a launch while crews are still assessing what entered the sea,” he wrote. Norrvik said his role was ceremonial and that he had no operational responsibilities.
Kaldvik is the first major new gas development in this part of the Norwegian Barents Sea in more than a decade. Norrvik and its partners committed NOK 41 billion (about €3.5 billion) to the project, which was expected to begin commercial deliveries this autumn. The field lies inside Norway’s economic zone, well south of the Svalbard archipelago.
Condensate under watch
The company said remotely operated valves isolated the damaged line and that air readings around the production unit showed no continuing gas release. Aerial and sea patrols were searching for remaining surface traces on Sunday. The water was 4°C (39°F), and officials said wind and low visibility had slowed the first survey; no estimate of the condensate’s environmental impact was yet available.
Leonie Platzer, who runs a small fishing operation from Hammerfest, said the delayed notice had left crews unsure whether to work near the field. “People here need a clear map and a clear answer before they take boats out,” she said. Norrvik said it had contacted fishing groups and would publish daily updates as the search continued.
Gert Bentzen, a marine engineer who has studied Arctic offshore operations, said the accident would test whether the field’s safeguards worked as designed. A vessel striking fixed equipment in heavy seas was “a known risk, not an unforeseeable one”, he said, adding that investigators would need to establish why steering was lost and how quickly the line was isolated.
Norrvik said the production unit would stay shut until a structural inspection and pressure tests were complete, with no date set for restarting. The Norwegian authorities have begun a formal safety review and are collecting vessel-tracking data and crew accounts. The company said it would cover cleanup costs; DiVero’s withdrawal has also put the project’s high-profile launch plans on hold.
