North Sea safety is once again under the spotlight after workers on the Equinor Sleipner rig report seeing a drone apparently monitoring the platform.  Norwegian Police are investigating, according to local media outlet VG.

Flights to the Sleipner rig have been halted today with CHC flight 500 remaining on the ground in Stavangar as this report goes to press.  The operator had expected to fly a Sikorsky S92 from Stavangar, initially to the Shelf Drilling Barsk, before transitting to Sleipner A and then returning to Stavangar.  It is currently estimating a departure over 9 hours late.

Other CHC flights from the same base have also been significantly delayed today, for reasons unstated.  These include flight 517 to Gina Krogh also departing over 9 hours late, and the late afternoon flight 165 to Deepsea Atlantic currently estimating almost 6 hours late.

In recent weeks, there have been several drone sightings at Norwegian airports, which led some closures.  Several drone sightings have also been made in Denmark at both civilian and military facilities. Denmark has banned all civilian drone flights in its airspace this week as the country gets ready to host major European summits in Copenhagen.