UPDATE 1-StatoilHydro says shut Kristin gas field

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OSLO Jan 8 (Reuters) - Norway's StatoilHydro (STL.OL) has temporarily stopped production at its Kristin gas field in the Norwegian Sea because of a problem with the platform's lifeboat system, the company said on Thursday.

Kristin has been producing around 10 million cubic metres of gas per day and around 10,000 cubic metres of condensate per day, but capacity is 125,000 barrels of condensate and 18 million cubic metres of rich gas per day, StatoilHydro said.

"StatoilHydro's gas customers will not be affected by the shutdown," the company said in a statement.

The shutdown coincides with tension in Europe over gas supplies due to a row between Russia and Ukraine over Russian gas deliveries. Norwegian gas exports have been at record high in the past few days due to reductions in Russian gas.

A defect was found in the release mechanisms of lifeboats of the same type on the Veslefrikk B platform in the North Sea, which led to the Kristin shutdown, it said.

"We are therefore carrying out a controlled production shutdown and reducing the platform staff as quickly and safely as possible," the field's head of operations Eileen Buan said in the statement.

The platform's staff will be reduced to 16 from 90 until the lifeboats are found to be working, the company said.

StatoilHydro shares traded down 0.9 percent at 121.30 crowns at 1041 GMT, underperforming a 0.5 percent fall in the Oslo bourse benchmark index .OSEBX. (Reporting by John Acher; editing by James Jukwey)