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Shell, authorities silent on North Sea oil leak
Source: Agencies |
August 14, 2011, Sunday
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ROYAL Dutch Shell Plc was silent yesterday on the status of an oil leak of unspecified size in the North Sea and authorities said they had no information on whether the leak had been stemmed, provoking anger from environmentalists.
The Anglo Dutch oil major said on Friday that it had discovered the leak from a flow line at its Gannet Alpha Platform and said then it was working to stem the flow.
The company declined to comment yesterday.
A spokeswoman for the Maritime & Coastguard Agency said it had no information on the status of the clean-up operation and that none of its staff were at the spill site.
A spokeswoman for the Department for Energy and Climate Change said it was not involved and referred questions to Shell.
Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond said the amount of oil released was "pretty limited" but the government took all such incidents seriously because of the "huge importance of the magnificent marine environment that surrounds Scotland".
He said he was pleased with the way the operation was going to contain the leak, but an investigation would follow to establish its cause.
"I think we should put things into context," he told BBC television. "We are probably dealing with a leak here of 100 tons or so of oil, I mean, if you take the Gulf of Mexico, that was half a million tons, but nonetheless, any leak at all, even a pipeline leak, is a serious matter."
Environmental group Greenpeace's oil campaigner Ben Ayliffe said: "Right now we don't know how serious this is, what we do know is that the North Sea is supposed to be ultra-safe, we're told spills can't happen there."
Shell said on Friday that one of the wells at the Gannet oil-field, 180 km (112 miles) east of Aberdeen, had been closed but declined to say if output was reduced.
According to Argus Media, the Gannet field produced about 13,500 barrels of oil in January-April. The field is co-owned with US major Exxon and operated by Shell.
A document available from Shell's website says the Gannet facilities have capacity to export 88,000 barrels of crude oil per day.
The Anglo Dutch oil major said on Friday that it had discovered the leak from a flow line at its Gannet Alpha Platform and said then it was working to stem the flow.
The company declined to comment yesterday.
A spokeswoman for the Maritime & Coastguard Agency said it had no information on the status of the clean-up operation and that none of its staff were at the spill site.
A spokeswoman for the Department for Energy and Climate Change said it was not involved and referred questions to Shell.
Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond said the amount of oil released was "pretty limited" but the government took all such incidents seriously because of the "huge importance of the magnificent marine environment that surrounds Scotland".
He said he was pleased with the way the operation was going to contain the leak, but an investigation would follow to establish its cause.
"I think we should put things into context," he told BBC television. "We are probably dealing with a leak here of 100 tons or so of oil, I mean, if you take the Gulf of Mexico, that was half a million tons, but nonetheless, any leak at all, even a pipeline leak, is a serious matter."
Environmental group Greenpeace's oil campaigner Ben Ayliffe said: "Right now we don't know how serious this is, what we do know is that the North Sea is supposed to be ultra-safe, we're told spills can't happen there."
Shell said on Friday that one of the wells at the Gannet oil-field, 180 km (112 miles) east of Aberdeen, had been closed but declined to say if output was reduced.
According to Argus Media, the Gannet field produced about 13,500 barrels of oil in January-April. The field is co-owned with US major Exxon and operated by Shell.
A document available from Shell's website says the Gannet facilities have capacity to export 88,000 barrels of crude oil per day.
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