On November 28, 2004, Statoil shut down production on its Snorre A platform, with some 200 workers, as well as its satellite platform Vigdis, after discovering a gas leak that could have caused an explosion.

The Petroleum Safety Authority Norway (PSA), which is in charge of health and environmental issues linked to the country's oil sector, has deemed that Statoil showed "serious failings and inadequacies" in its planning and execution of drilling of wells.

The PSA also described the blowout, in which no one was injured, as "one of the most serious incidents on the Norwegian Shelf ever".

Statoil, which admitted last January that the incident was "serious", and "in the worst case, could have caused major harm to people, the environment and material assets," did not say on Thursday whether it planned to appeal the fine.

"We have taken note of the prosecutor's announcement. We will now study the motivation behind the decision," Statoil spokesman Kristofer Hetland told AFP.

Police had also interrogated head of the company Helge Lund in connection with an investigation into the incident, but prosecutors decided not to press individual charges against him or any other company executives.

The fine is the largest ever handed down to a Norwegian oil company.

In 2001, Statoil competitor Norsk Hydro was hit with a 15-million-kroner fine after an employee died in an accident on its Oseberg-East platform.

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