Norway's Equinor confirms first coronavirus case in offshore North Sea worker

Norway's state-controlled Equinor announced Wednesday the first reported case of coronavirus in an offshore worker in the North Sea, at an oil and gas project under development, Martin Linge.

The field is due on stream at the end of 2020 and 776 people are currently offshore at the site, spread across three installations, Equinor said in a statement. Test results are awaited from two other workers at the same field who had visited high-risk countries and are in quarantine, it said.

The oil industry in both Norway and the UK has been taking steps to limit the impact of coronavirus in what is by far Europe's largest producing basin.

Equinor said Tuesday it was suspending helicopter flights to a number of offshore facilities, including the flagship Oseberg field, but there was no impact on production as what it called "ordinary operations" continued.

The infected person at the Martin Linge project has been in isolation in his cabin since Monday, when Austria, which he had recently visited, was designated a high-risk country and he was given a test. The worker, who has been at the facility since March 4, is not seriously ill and it has not been decided when he will be brought ashore, the company said.

It said measures to prevent further contamination had been introduced and it was consulting with Norwegian health authorities on further steps.

"Medical staff on board follow up all personnel and there are no additional persons with symptoms on board," Equinor said. "The activity on the field will be reduced today. Personnel remain at the installations they are already located on."