Oil platform for sale: just 22 cents

NZ Herald,

21 October, 2011

"Platform for sale in good condition: 20 rooms, panoramic sea view, plenty of space for a helicopter": the oil platform Huldra in the North Sea is up for grabs.

Norwegian oil company Statoil plans to dispose of the giant installation now that the oil well is drying up, and the company published a parody of a real estate advertisement in a brochure posted on its website on Tuesday.

Statoil noted tongue in cheek that the platform has no carpark.

"How to get there: take the boat, go west out of Bergen and head out to sea," the ad reads.

The starting bid is set at one Norwegian krone (NZ $0.22 ) but the future owner would also have to pay the cost of moving the platform elsewhere.

Huldra, which is relatively new having been in use since 2001, could interest other oil companies, though Statoil did not rule out that it could be used for other purposes.

The dismantling of mammoth offshore platforms is a headache for oil companies, primarily because of the environmental regulations concerning their operation.