Royal Dutch Shell has finally managed to stop oil from spilling into the North Sea after a 12-day battle with the Gannet field leak.
Shells work is not over as it will have to remove oil trapped in the pipeline between the sealed off well and the platform. The Marine Coastguards latest estimate is that the sheen currently covers an area of 6.7 square kms and 26 barrels by volume. Photo: REUTERSBy Rowena Mason, Energy Correspondent 6:41PM BST 19 Aug 2011
Divers switched off a valve from which just one barrel per day was trickling over the last couple of days, but in total around 1,600 barrels has made its way into the ocean over the course of the spill.
Shells work is not over as it will have to remove oil trapped in the pipeline between the sealed off well and the platform. The Marine Coastguards latest estimate is that the sheen currently covers an area of 6.7 square kms and 26 barrels by volume.
Closing the valve is a key step, said Glen Cayley, technical director of Shell in Europe. It was a careful and complex operation conducted by skilled divers, with support from our technical teams onshore. But we will be watching the line closely over the next 24 hours and beyond.