By BEN MCCONVILLE and MEERA SELVA Associated Press
The British government warned Monday that several hundred tons of oil may have leaked into the North Sea from a Royal Dutch Shell rig.
The Department for Energy and Climate Change said it estimates that the leak from a flow line at the Gannet Alpha platform off the Scottish coast that began last week could have spilled several hundred tons of oil into the sea.
It said the leak was small compared to the BP spill in the Gulf of Mexico last year, but said it was still substantial for the U.K.’s continental shelf. The government said the oil would disperse naturally and was not expected to reach the shore.
It said Britain’s offshore oil industry had a strong safety record, “which is why it is disappointing that this spill has happened. We take any spill very seriously and we will be investigating the causes of the spill and learning any lessons from the response to it.”
The government said the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, which monitors the waters around Britain, was making twice-daily flights over the area to monitor the situation.
Shell has declined to comment on the volume off the spill. It said in a statement released over the weekend that the spill covered a surface area of 19 miles by 2.7 miles (31 kilometers by 4.3 kilometers) and that the leak was under control.
The oil field, about 112 miles (180km) east of the city of Aberdeen, is operated by Shell and co-owned by Shell and Esso, a subsidiary of the U.S. oil firm Exxon Mobil.
Stuart Housden, Director of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds Scotland, said razorbills, puffins and guillemots that gather in the North Sea in late summer could be at risk.
“We know oil of any amount, if in the wrong place, at the wrong time, can have a devastating impact on marine life,” he said.
The Scottish government said it was working with Shell to monitor the spill and warn local fishing boats about it.
McConville reported from Edinburgh
This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.
Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS: 
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A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
