Production at the Huldra gas field and Veslefrikk oil field was stopped on the weekend after a crack was found in the lowering system of a lifeboat on the Veslefrikk A platform.

Another inspection on Monday of the two Veslefrikk B lifeboats found corrosion on bolts and attachment plates for the lowering system, Statoil said.

"Production on Huldra and Veslefrikk has been shut down and will remain so until the lifeboats are found to be fully in order," Statoil spokesman Geir Arnland said.

Problems were first discovered last month, when a lifeboat failed a routine test, prompting the partial evacuation of the Veslefrikk B platform.

Veslefrikk produces about 30,000 barrels of oil a day, and Huldra produces more than 200 million cubic meters of gas a day through an unstaffed platform operated remotely from Veslefrikk.