Production has been halted at Britain's largest oil field after smoke was reported from one of the platforms during a failure.

The problem was reported from one of the platforms on the North Sea Buzzard field at the weekend.

Operator Nexen has halted production at the field, around 60 miles north-east of Aberdeen, which produces up to 220,000 barrels of crude oil per day.

The problem, thought to have resulted from a failure on one of the gas compressors, is being repaired. 

A Nexen spokeswoman said reports of a fire on the platform were false.

She said: "Saturday morning there was a bearing failure on one of the gas compressors on the fourth platform at Buzzard that resulted in smoke being emitted.

"Repairs are under way and during this maintainance period, production has been halted.

"We are preparing for start-up today and we expect to see production ramp up, starting tomorrow."

The incident has been reported to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).

A spokeswoman said: "HSE undertook an initial investigation but decided there was no need go offshore to investigate.

"Instead, HSE is awaiting the outcome of Nexen's internal investigation before deciding what action to take."