[güttsfükk]

Oil giant Royal Dutch Shell has said it is working to stop a leak at one of its North Sea oil platforms.

The company would not say how much oil may have been spilt from the Gannet Alpha platform though it said it had "stemmed the leak significantly".

One of the wells at the Gannet oilfield has been closed, but the company would not say if production was reduced.

The company says it has sent a clean-up vessel to the location and has a plane monitoring the surface.

The leak was found in a flow line connecting an oil well to the platform.

"We can confirm we are managing an oil leak in a flow line that serves the Shell-operated Gannet Alpha platform. We deployed a remote-operated vehicle to check for a subsea leak after a light sheen was noticed in the area," said a Shell spokesman.

"We have stemmed the leak significantly and we are taking further measures to isolate it. The subsea well has been shut in, and the flow line is being de-pressurised," he added.

'Finite amount'

The company confirmed the leak was continuing but said it was being significantly reduced.

A spokesperson for the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change said: "We are aware of the incident and we are contact with Shell and we investigating it in the usual way but what we understand from Shell, the spill is limited.

"There is a finite amount of oil that can be released."

The entire Gannet field reportedly produced around 13,500 barrels of oil between January and April of this year.

The field is co-owned by US oil firm Exxon.

source : http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-14513509

[Faline]

Not another oil spill

[kellyhound]

Happens more often than we think but not everything hits the news/papers.

[güttsfükk]

Originally Posted by kellyhound ↗

Happens more often than we think but not everything hits the news/papers.

yeah i was reading about oil spills today and in nigeria there's been around 6000-8000 oil spills in the last 3decades.

usually a result of people trying to syphon from pipelines. and the poor maintenance of the pipes.

one article i read was talking about the nigerian government suing shell for 200-400 million us$ for oil spills in 2008 and 2009, shell claimed 40,000 gallons was spilled, but experts who viewed video evidence from the spills say that it was a similar sized incident to the exxon valdez spill in alaska, which was 10 million gallons of oil.

[güttsfükk]

Originally Posted by güttsfükk ↗

yeah i was reading about oil spills today and in nigeria there's been around 6000-8000 oil spills in the last 3decades.

tracked it down

The Department of Petroleum Resources estimated 1.89 million barrels of petroleum were spilled into the Niger Delta between 1976 and 1996 out of a total of 2.4 million barrels spilled in 4,835 incidents. (approximately 220 thousand cubic metres). A UNDP report states that there have been a total of 6,817 oil spills between 1976 and 2001, which account for a loss of three million barrels of oil, of which more than 70% was not recovered. Most of these spills occurred off-shore (69%), a quarter was in swamps and 6% spilled on land. In the early 2000's, it seemed more spills were due to sabotage than by accidents.

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation places the quantity of petroleum jettisoned into the environment yearly at 2,300 cubic metres with an average of 300 individual spills annually. However, because this amount does not take into account "minor" spills, the World Bank argues that the true quantity of petroleum spilled into the environment could be as much as ten times the officially claimed amount. The largest individual spills include the blowout of a Texaco offshore station which in 1980 dumped an estimated 400,000 barrels (64,000 m3) of crude oil into the Gulf of Guinea and Royal Dutch Shell's Forcados Terminal tank failure which produced a spillage estimated at 580,000 barrels (92,000 m3). In 2010 Baird reported that between 9 million and 13 million barrels have been spilled in the Niger Delta since 1958. One source even calculates that the total amount of petroleum in barrels spilled between 1960 and 1997 is upwards of 100 million barrels (16,000,000 m3).

[Mr.Goodbar]

I can't wait until humans run out of oil. Bring on The Road!!!!!!!!!!!

[fenek]

I love how we can make nuclear weapons, hypersonic aircraft, and puppies glow in the dark, but we can't figure out an alternative form of energy.

[kellyhound]

oil companies are scum, that's a fact.
banks too
and wallmart

[gatagato]

Fears of environmental damage as Shell North Sea oil platform is still leaking
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 12:31 AM on 17th August 2011

A Shell oil rig responsible for the biggest spill in British waters in a decade is still leaking.

The oil giant admitted more than 1,300 barrels have so far gushed from a pipe leak connected to its platform in the North Sea.

The main leak, found last Wednesday, is under control, but yesterday Shell revealed there is a second leak from a relief valve on Gannet Alpha platform, 112 miles off the coast of Aberdeen.

Shell admitted at least 216 tons of light crude oil had escaped and at its peak the oil extended for 18 miles. It is not expected to reach the shore.

The Dutch firm said it had no evidence of any harm to birdlife.

The second leak, spilling two barrels per day, was in an ‘awkward position’ to repair, Shell said. The Department of Energy and Climate Change said it was monitoring the spill, describing it as ‘substantial’.

Glen Cayley, technical director for Shell’s exploration and production in Europe, said: ‘Shell deeply regrets this spill. We have moved, we believe, really quickly in terms of stemming the leak.’

It is unclear how the spill, the largest in British waters since 2000, started.
Campaigners WWF Scotland said the accident raised serious concerns about Shell’s plans to drill in the Arctic.

The estimated spill outstrips annual spill totals for the past decade, according to figures from the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC).

The total amount of oil discharged into the North Sea in 2009 was 50.93 tonnes.

Mr Cayley said: 'We have moved, we believe, really quickly in terms of technically stemming the leak.'

The spill is described as a light crude oil with a low wax content. Hydraulic fluid is also present.

Environment groups have raised their concerns for wildlife in the area.
Shell have a standby vessel monitoring wildlife in the area.

Wildlife organisation WWF Scotland director Dr Richard Dixon said: 'It is clear that Shell are having great difficulty dealing with their leaking pipeline.

'It really does make you question the entire oil industry's ability to respond had this accident been on a larger scale or in the much more difficult waters of the Arctic.

'Any inquiry will need to look at what Shell knew when, what they did about it and what they told their regulators and the public.

'It is already obvious that Shell will be strongly criticised for giving out so little public information so grudgingly.'

But Mr Cayley said they had no direct evidence of any birdlife damage.
The total amount of oil discharged into the North Sea in 2009 was 50.93 tonnes.

A standby vessel, Grampian Prince, is monitoring the area, with oil spill response equipment available if required

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...m-leaking.html

See also:
Criticism Grows Over Shell's Handling of Oil Leak
Oil slick is heading to British coast after North Sea pipeline leak

Shell North Sea oil spill - live blog
Rolling coverage of the oil spills from the Gannet Alpha platform in the North Sea, where a second leak has been discovered