More than 150 people were evacuated from an oil platform in the North 
Sea on Saturday because of an oil and gas leak that rescuers feared 
could result in an explosion.<br><br>"Oil is leaking from one of the 
shafts of the Statfjord A platform in the North Sea," operator 
StatoilHydro ASA said. "The situation is serious and confused."<br><br>Two people were exposed to gas during the incident, but none was seriously injured, said company spokesman Ola Morten Aanestad.<br><br>Oil
 was being discharged into the sea from the platform for safety reasons 
and repair vessels were heading to the area to contain the spill, the 
company said.<br><br>Aanestad said there was a small risk that gas 
released during the oil leak would ignite, so 156 of the 217 people on 
the platform were evacuated to nearby platforms Saturday morning. 
Sixty-one emergency workers remained on Statfjord A, he said.<br><br>StatoilHydro
 said the oil leak occurred during maintenance work on a pipe in one of 
the platform's three shafts and that oil was leaking from one or several
 storage cells. The storage cells hold 1.3 million barrels of oil, the 
company said.<br><br>Production was stopped immediately after the leak 
was detected, Aanestad said, adding it was not clear how long the 
platform would remain shut down. "We're primarily focusing on staff and 
environment right now," he said.<br><br>The platform began production in
 1979 and is one of three being operated by StatoilHydro in the 
Statfjord field, located about 125 miles (200 kilometers) west of the 
coastal city of Bergen.<br><br>The company said Statfjord is one of the 
oldest producing fields on the Norwegian continental shelf and the 
largest oil discovery in the North Sea.<br>