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North Sea Oil Spill

Shell charged over biggest North Sea oil leak in more than a decade

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Energy giant Shell has been charged over a major oil leak from a North Sea platform four years ago. 

The equivalent of more than 1300 barrels of oil spilled into the sea from the Gannet Alpha in August 2011, the largest leak in more than a decade. 

The UK Government carried out an investigation into the incident and Shell now faces charges over the spill, as well as pipeline maintenance and health and safety. 

Shell was able to bring the leak 112 miles east of Aberdeen under control but then faced a smaller leak which was spilling around 80 gallons of oil a day.  read more

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.

Gas work at Shell Gannet Alpha leak pipeline completed

4 November 2011

Work to release gas trapped in a pipeline which spilled more than 200 tonnes of oil into the North Sea has been completed, Shell has said.

Divers earlier closed a relief valve after the incident at the Gannet Alpha platform in August.

Shell said the latest operation on the 4km structure had “further enhanced its stability and security”.

Plans are being made to deal with the remaining oil in the pipeline. An investigation into the leak is ongoing.

The impact of the oil spill in the North Sea was minimal, Scottish Fisheries Minister Richard Lochhead said in September. read more

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Oil leaks from supply vessel during refuelling


Saturday 24 September 2011 Page 8

Extract

BY CHRISTINA LAVELLE

AROUND 1,500 litres of oil leaked from an offshore supply vessel in Aberdeen harbour yesterday.

The spill occurred when the Skandi Foula, owned by Shell, was being refuelled at Torry dock.

A clean-up operation was under way last night and it is understood around 500 litres of oil were recovered.

A spokesman for Shell said the leak had been stopped.

It is the second reported oil spill the company has experienced in as many months.

In August the oil giant faced criticised after more than 200 tonnes of oil spilled into the North Sea from its Gannet Alpha platform, about two miles east of Aberdeen. It was the worst oil spill in the region in more than a decade. read more

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Saturday 17 Sept 2011: Explosion warning over Shell platform

The Press and Journal

Explosion warning over Shell platform

Saturday, September 17 2011

Front page lead story running on to page 2.

BY RYAN CRIGHTON

UNDER-PRESSURE oil giant Shell has been issued with an official safety warning over explosion risks at one of its ageing North Sea platforms.

The Health and Safety Executive is raising fears once again about the 35- year-old Brent Charlie platform, which has recorded 61 oil and gas leaks in a decade.

It emerged last night that the company has been served with an improvement notice over its failure to take action to identify “events” that could lead to a major accident, fire or explosion following a gas release. read more

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Shell May Face Prosecution For North Sea Spill – UK Minister

By Alexis Flynn

Published September 15, 2011 Dow Jones Newswires

LONDON -(Dow Jones)- Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSA.LN) may be prosecuted for the U.K.’s worst oil spill in a decade after Energy and Climate Change Secretary Chris Huhne confirmed an investigation into a 10-day leak from the oil major’s Gannet Alpha platform last month will be sent to Scotland’s public prosecutor.

“My department and the Health and Safety Executive have commenced investigations into the cause of the incident,” said Huhne, adding it would likely “take some months.” read more

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Shell Brent Charlie Platform Shut-In Since July – Regulator

“A prohibition notice was served on Shell July 1 over hydrocarbon release issues on the Brent C platform. The rig is currently ‘shut in’…


SEPTEMBER 14, 2011

LONDON (Dow Jones)–The U.K. offshore regulator issued Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSA.LN) with two warnings in July for safety incidents at its aged Brent Charlie platform in the North Sea, the Health and Safety Executive website showed Wednesday.

One of the warnings is a more serious prohibition notice, which indicates there is an elevated risk of injury, while the other is an improvement notice, which gives an operator a period of time to correct a potential risk. read more

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SCOTTISH OIL RIGS IN DIRE STRAITS

Mr Campbell insisted it is only a matter of time before there is another major tragedy in the North Sea. He said: “According to public domain data there were 85 gas releases and 443 dangerous occurrences last year. If you are getting 85 gas leaks that’s one and a half, or two, leaks a week. The probability of an undesirable event is very high.”


CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE

By John Donovan

The Sunday Express has today published an article under the headline: “Rusting rigs spark fears of oil tragedy” (above newspaper article) and “SCOTTISH OIL RIGS IN DIRE STRAITS” (online version).

The newspaper approached us for assistance and we were happy to supply extensive information, including the revealing letter we obtained from the Health & Safety Executive that is mentioned in the article.

We also put the Sunday Express journalist Paula Murray into contact with Bill Campbell, the retired HSE Group Auditor of Shell International to led the safety audit team on Shell North Sea platforms in 1999 which exposed a “Touch F*** All” maintenance culture with bodged repairs and falsified safety records. A more recent report (in 2008) by upstreamonline revealed that even the oil rig lifeboats were not seaworthy.
read more

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Leaked Shell Sigma3 document may hold clue to cause of Gannet oil spill

By John Donovan

We are in possession of a 30 page plus Sigma3 document prepared for Shell U.K. Exploration and Production in relation to Gannet. It may hold a clue to the cause of the recent Shell Gannet oil spill into the North Sea, the largest for a decade.

Sigma3 is a consortium comprising Amec, Petroleum Services Network and Wood Group, which maintains Shell’s North Sea platforms.

According to Shell:

“Sigma 3 team is based inside the Shell organisation gives us a seamless alignment and insight into the real problems being addressed daily in keeping the assets running safely and efficiently.” read more

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Another North Sea disaster

So let’s deregulate and make a dash for abandonment at minimum cost and hope we get lucky seems to be the game.  And also let’s put the Chairman of the North Sea’s worst offending Company in charge of the process. Hopefully sense will prevail before the next almost inevitable major accident event when one of the 85 gas leaks per year coincides with a source of ignition.

COMMENT SENT BY BILL CAMPBELL TO ROWENA MASON ON HER RECENT TELEGRAPH ARTICLE: Former Shell chairman James Smith to lead deregulation of UK oil and gas industry

Rowena – interesting article

With some 50 serious injuries a year (up by 20) and over 400 reported dangerous occurrences 85 of which were losses of containment of hydrocarbons into the atmosphere (1) it seems an inappropriate time to reduce regulation. Apart from the recent oil spill on Gannet where Shell accept a causal factor may have been lack of maintenance and inspection, with the HSE stating publicly that lack of maintenance offshore could have severe consequences generally across the oilfield, it seems that better and more proactive oversight of this industry is needed rather than less. read more

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Former Shell chairman James Smith to lead deregulation of UK oil and gas industry

WHAT WILL BILL CAMPBELL MAKE OF THIS? PUTTING A FOX IN CHARGE OF THE HEN HOUSE?

The Government has appointed James Smith, the former UK chairman of Royal Dutch Shell, to lead a radical deregulation of the oil and gas industry.

By 6:00AM BST 07 Sep 2011

Charles Hendry, the energy minister, promised oil executives at Aberdeen’s annual Offshore Europe conference that they would be facing less regulatory oversight in years to come.

Mr Smith, the longtime head of Shell UK, who retired this year, will start gathering opinions in November from companies on how to cut regulation.

“You are not going to see more regulation,” Mr Hendry told delegates. “What we badly need is input from industry on how to reduce the burden of regulation. The approach of ticking boxes you see in other countries, that’s not the UK’s way of doing things.” read more

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UK Offshore Regulator Mulls Naming North Sea Spill Offenders

The organization tasked with policing safety on U.K. North Sea oil and gas installations said Wednesday it is prepared to change the way it publishes information on leaks and other incidents, amid criticism of a lack of transparency around Royal Dutch Shell PLC’s recent spill at the Gannet Alpha platform.

By Alexis Flynn Published September 07, 2011 Dow Jones Newswires

ABERDEEN, Scotland -(Dow Jones)- The organization tasked with policing safety on U.K. North Sea oil and gas installations said Wednesday it is prepared to change the way it publishes information on leaks and other incidents, amid criticism of a lack of transparency around Royal Dutch Shell PLC’s (RDSA) recent spill at the Gannet Alpha platform.

“There has been pressure on us to be more transparent, there is more expected on this,” said Steve Walker, head of the Health and Safety Executive’s offshore division. “We could do it in a more attributable way.” read more

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Warning North Sea oil platforms could be near collapse

STV News has been shown footage many platforms are severely corroded and have exceeded their intended lifespan by up to 20 years.

“All we’re waiting for is a fat hot spark to coincide with the next loss of containment and we’re away into a multi-fatality event, serious damage to the assets and probably huge environmental losses.”


05 September 2011 15:50 BST

Link to stv news report featuring comments by Bill Campbell: http://bcove.me/0u7ostns

Warning North Sea oil platforms could be near collapse

STV News has been shown footage many platforms are severely corroded and have exceeded their intended lifespan by up to 20 years.

05 September 2011 15:50 BST

STV News has been given footage which shows how close some North Sea platforms are to collapse.

It comes amid growing concerns raised by the Health and Safety executive that many companies are not maintaining the installations – most of which are now working decades beyond their intended lifespan. read more

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No Explanation Yet For Shell North Sea Oil Spill – UK Minister

SEPTEMBER 6, 2011

ABERDEEN, Scotland (Dow Jones)–There is still no clear explanation for what caused an oil leak at a Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSA) North Sea platform that took more than a week to stanch, U.K. Department of Energy and Climate Change Minister Charles Hendry said Tuesday.

“We don’t yet understand is the full background to what happened with Gannet Alpha,” said Hendry, speaking at an industry conference here.

An investigation into the spill by is currently underway. Some 218 metric tons of oil spilled into the ocean for ten days from Aug. 10 before Shell was able to close an underwater relief valve on a leaking subsea pipeline. Around 660 tons of oil still remains trapped in the pipeline while Shell analyzes how to safely remove it. read more

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Shell’s North Sea Reputation sunk by severe corrosion

“The drip, drip, drip of negative information has been every bit as corrosive to the company’s reputation as the oil leaking from its pipe. It was not until a week after the oil was first spotted that the company apologised.”

By John Donovan

We have printed below extensive articles published over three pages of The Sunday Times on 21 August 2011.

It was this development which sparked a number of other major news stories published the following day.

The Sunday Times approached us for our help, which we were pleased to provide over a number of days. We put the newspaper into contact with our Shell related sources, including Bill Campbell. We provided a considerable volume of information from our extensive files. We also supplied documents referred to in the article, including the letter the HSE offshore division sent to Shell on 18 July 2011, which we now put into the public domain. This was kindly supplied to us by the HSE press office.
read more

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Shell plans to remove oil from damaged North Sea pipe, U.K. says

Houston Chronicle: August 22, 2011 at 12.31 pm by Bloomberg

Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Europe’s largest oil company, plans to remove crude remaining in a North Sea pipeline that leaked this month, the U.K. government said.

“Shell now plans to continue to secure the pipeline to protect it from the threat of storm or tidal damage,” Hugh Shaw, a government representative overseeing the operation, said today in an e-mailed statement. The work may take about 36 hours.

Shell divers closed the Gannet Alpha platform flow line off Scotland on Aug. 19. The company identified the leak after spotting a sheen on the water on Aug. 10. The pipeline still holds as much as 660 metric tons of crude, according to Glen Cayley, an Aberdeen, Scotland-based technical director at Shell’s exploration and production unit in Europe. read more

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Investigation into leak at Shell’s North Sea platform to get under way news

It has also emerged over the weekend that an internal investigation into Shell’s Gannet plaforms in 2003 had raised concerns over unapproved repairs and unreliable fire sensors. This is clear from papers held by Bill Campbell, a former senior Shell employee, who has questioned the company’s environmental and safety record.

22 August 2011

Shell says according to its estimates a leak at one of its platforms, 110 miles east of Aberdeen, Scotland had spewed 1,300 barrels of oil. The leak was detected on 10 August.

Following the spill, UK government inspectors are preparing to question a number of key players involved in the North Sea oil leak. This would include staff on the platform, officials at the company’s headquarters and the helicopter pilot who spotted the sheen.

Meanwhile, even as the investigation gets under way, an analysis of oil and chemical leaks from Shell’s Gannet platforms showed that the platform had seen at least 34 spillages since 2002, ranging from 1litre to 590 barrels. read more

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Oil production in North Sea scrutinized

Bill Campbell, whom The Daily Telegraph described as a “former senior Shell employee” questioned the company’s performance at Gannet as claims from 2003 surfaced over the platform’s maintenance record, the newspaper in London reports.

Published: Aug. 22, 2011 at 8:52 AM

LONDON, Aug. 22 (UPI) — Internal documents and British safety records indicate there were problems with North Sea oil production after Shell announced it closed its oil leak last week.

Royal Dutch Shell said that divers shut a relief valve and stopped an oil spill from its Gannet platform. At the height of the spill, reported Aug. 10, around 1,500 barrels of oil was dumping into the North Sea.

Bill Campbell, whom The Daily Telegraph described as a “former senior Shell employee” questioned the company’s performance at Gannet as claims from 2003 surfaced over the platform’s maintenance record, the newspaper in London reports. read more

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Shell defends safety after North Sea oil leak

22 August 2011 Last updated at 09:55

Shell has said safety is its “foremost priority” after calls for North Sea activities to be restricted in the wake of the oil leak.

The company has been tackling the release of more than 200 tonnes of oil near the Gannet Alpha platform.

A relief valve was closed by divers on Friday.

Environmental organisation WWF Scotland said operations should be restricted pending an infrastructure audit. Shell said safety was always paramount.

The company said in a statement: “Safety is Shell’s foremost priority at all times. read more

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Halt Shell projects in North Sea, says WWF

Extracts from “Halt Shell projects in North Sea…”:

Shell technical director Glen Cayley has apologised and admitted the existing pipeline inspection and maintenance programme had let the company down.

WWF Scotland also described Shell’s performance during the spill as a “lesson on how to look evasive and shifty”.

BY CATRIONA WEBSTER: 22 August 2011

A LEADING environmental charity has called on the UK Government to restrict all Shell operations in the North Sea until a full audit of its installations is carried out.

WWF Scotland made the plea after it was revealed that the UK Government’s Health and Safety Executive (HSE) had censured the oil giant 25 times in six years for breaking safety rules.

It was also reported yesterday that an internal investigation by Shell eight years ago raised serious concerns about safety in the Gannet oil field, where the company has been fighting to stem the worst North Sea oil leak in over a decade. read more

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Investigation gets under way as Shell plugs North Sea oil leak

It also emerged over the weekend that there was an internal investigation into Shell’s Gannet plaforms in 2003 raising concerns about unapproved repairs and unreliable fire sensors. The claims are made within papers held by Bill Campbell, a former senior Shell employee, who has questioned the company’s environmental and safety record.

Government inspectors are preparing to interview a number of key players involved in Shell’s North Sea oil leak, including staff on the platform, officials at the company’s headquarters and the helicopter pilot who spotted the sheen.

Government investigators are preparing to take a close look at Shell’s physical assets, including the pipeline where the source of the leak was discovered. Photo: Alamy

By , Energy Correspondent 5:30AM BST 22 Aug 2011

The start of their investigation comes as an analysis of oil and chemical leaks from Shell’s Gannet platforms shows that there have been at least 34 spillages since 2002, ranging from one litre to 590 barrels.

Data from surveys conducted on behalf of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency show that most of these 34 came from Shell’s Gannet Alpha platform, whose pipeline suffered the 10-day leak that ended on Friday. read more

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Revealed: Shell’s poor safety record in the UK

“Shell’s poor regard for safety and their terrible communications over the last 10 days should be ringing major alarm bells…”

Last week’s North Sea oil spill was not the first time Shell had found itself in trouble. Environment Editor Rob Edwards reports

Shell has been officially censured for breaking safety rules 25 times in the last six years and has one of the worst safety records of the major oil companies in the UK, an investigation by the Sunday Herald has revealed.

The British oil multinational has been prosecuted, fined and formally reprimanded for repeatedly failing to maintain pipelines and other vital equipment in the North Sea, for failing to report a dangerous incident, and for failing to protect workers from hazardous chemicals.

The revelations, from records held by the Government’s Health and Safety Executive (HSE), have led to renewed criticism of Shell in the wake of last week’s oil leak from a pipeline to the Gannet Alpha platform 112 miles east of Aberdeen. The company has been slammed for failing to be open about the leak, which it claimed to have sealed on Friday. read more

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More details needed on oil incidents, says government

“More steps need to be taken to promote a culture of openness and transparency…”

21 August 2011

The public must have better information on oil incidents in UK waters, the Scottish government has said.

The plea came in the wake of the oil leak near the Gannet Alpha platform, in the North Sea.

Shell initially faced criticism that it was not being open enough about the incident, which happened last week.

Oil industry regulation is reserved to Westminster, but Scottish ministers have asked the UK government to hold a review on the issue.

Shell has been dealing with the release of what is estimated to be 218 tonnes of oil after a leak from a relief valve near the platform, 113 miles (180km) off Aberdeen. read more

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Royal Dutch Shell closes oil valve after 12 day North Sea battle

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.

Shell’s 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 Coastguard’s latest estimate is that the sheen currently covers an area of 6.7 square kms and 26 barrels by volume. Photo: REUTERS

By , 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.

Shell’s 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 Coastguard’s 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.” read more

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Shell stops North Sea leak after 10 days

guardian.co.uk home

Scottish government launches investigation into safety procedures after worst oil spill in UK waters for a decade

The Shell oil spill in the North Sea. The marine coastguard has estimated that the oil on the sea surface covers about 6.7 sq km. Photograph: Marine Scotland

Shell has finally stopped the leak from its faulty oil pipeline in the North Sea, ending the flow of oil undersea after 10 days of the worst oil spill in UK waters for a decade.

Divers closed a relief valve which was the source of a small secondary leak, discovered after the first major leak in the pipeline at the Gannet Alpha platform had been plugged last week. Government officials are now opening an investigation into how the leak occurred and whether the correct procedures were followed. They will also have to decide whether Shell should pay for government expenses incurred in the clean-up operation. read more

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Shell spill: What happened and why it matters to Shell

By Damian Kahya Business reporter, BBC News 19 August 2011

Environmental groups are furious that the largest North Sea spill in a decade was not revealed to the public for three days.

Why did it happen and will Shell’s recent environmental problems affect the company’s ambitious plans?

On 10 August, a routine helicopter flight over the North Sea spotted a “sheen” on the sea’s surface near Royal Dutch Shell’s Gannet Alpha platform.

The oily sheen covered just 0.5 sq km to begin with, according to figures provided to the BBC by Shell.

But it was an indication that below the surface, something was leaking.

Shell immediately informed regulatory bodies, including the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) and the government’s Joint Nature Conservation Commitee. read more

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Shell vows to improve inspections!!!!!

Shell said it needed to improve its inspection policies. “We’re making every effort to improve our inspection program and revisit our maintenance priorities,” Cayley added.

Spilled crude oil from the Gannet field, co-owned by Royal Dutch Shell and Exxon Mobil Corp., floats off the coast of Scotland. The platform will be shut down for routine maintenance on Thursday.

Photograph by: PIUS UTOMI EKPEI AFP, GETTY IMAGES, Reuters 18 August 2011

Major oil producer Royal Dutch Shell said a large volume of oil remained in its leaking pipeline, raising the possibility that Britain’s worst oil spill for a decade could worsen, but said the extra amount would only seep out in a worst-case scenario.

Oil leaked into the sea off the coast of Scotland for a seventh day on Wednesday as Shell said it was planning extensive activity, including the deployment of divers, to completely stop the flow of oil.

The company told reporters on a conference call its estimate of the total volume of oil that had leaked remained at just over 218 tonnes, in line with a figure given on Monday, as oil continued to trickle out at the rate of one barrel a day. Up to 660 tonnes could remain in the pipeline at the Gannet field, however, said Glen Cayley, technical director of Shell’s European exploration and production activities, and the company was focusing on how to deal with it. read more

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No wonder bits are falling off the Shell Brent Platforms

EMAIL RECEIVED

John,

No wonder bits are falling off the Brents.

I’m an ex Shell employee with no axe to grind but I’m also fat and wouldn’t trust those gratings to hold me.

Thanks

(name and email address supplied)

Gratings_-_Destructive_Testing(1)

Related comment by a retired Shell North Sea Platform manager:

John,

This short video demonstrates severe corrosion of a stair tread. They are in a horrendous condition and a disgrace not only to the scheduled maintenance programme but to the respective OIM’s, Safety reps and the HSE Inspectors.    Pay particular attention near the end of the clip where the leading edge of the stair tread is fitted with an anti skid strip to assist in the prevention of workers slipping in the stair treads.  Notice how badly worn it is, should have been replaced a long time ago! read more

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.

No to Arctic Drilling

By FRANCES G. BEINECKE

A version of this op-ed appeared in print on August 18, 2011

ABOUT 55,000 gallons of oil have escaped into the North Sea since last week from a leaky pipeline operated by Royal Dutch Shell, about 100 miles off Scotland.

Last year, Americans watched in mounting fury as the oil industry and the federal government struggled for five disastrous months to contain the much larger BP blowout in the Gulf of Mexico.

Now imagine the increased danger and difficulty of trying to cope with a similar debacle off Alaska’s northern coast, where waters are sealed by pack ice for eight months of each year, gales roil fog-shrouded seas with waves up to 20 feet high and the temperature, combined with the wind chill, feels like 10 degrees below zero by late September. read more

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.

Shell Defends Its Efforts to Stanch North Sea Spill

Shell has been trying to stop a leaking line from its Gannet Alpha platform for the last seven days amid mounting public criticism of its perceived lack of transparency about the spill.

AUGUST 18, 2011

By ALEXIS FLYNN

LONDON—Some 660 tons of oil are still inside a leaking Royal Dutch Shell PLC pipeline in the U.K. North Sea, the Anglo-Dutch energy producer said Wednesday, explaining that efforts to stop the relatively light flow of crude are taking considerable time in order to minimize further leakage.

Shell has been trying to stop a leaking line from its Gannet Alpha platform for the last seven days amid mounting public criticism of its perceived lack of transparency about the spill. read more

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.

Oil spill off Scotland ‘could worsen’

By Richard Hall

Thursday, 18 August 2011

Hundreds of tons of oil could still be inside an offshore pipeline which has been leaking for a week off the Scottish coast, raising the possibility that Britain’s worst oil spill for a decade could worsen.

As oil giant Royal Dutch Shell continues to try to stem the flow on the seabed about 112 miles east of Aberdeen, the company said there is still a risk an estimated 660 tons of oil that remain in the pipeline could leak out.

“We are talking about hundreds of tons of additional oil in the pipeline that we need to preserve and keep there,” Shell technical director Glen Cayley said. read more

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Shell could face fines over Gannet oil spill

Royal Dutch Shell may face a criminal investigation and hefty fines in the Scottish courts for its oil leak, which is still trickling into the North Sea.


Shell is currently working to stop 4,500 barrels still in the pipeline from leaking into the sea. Photo: REUTERS

Rowena Mason

By 7:49PM BST 17 Aug 2011

The Government said last night it will make recommendations to the Scottish Procurator Fiscal about whether to prosecute Shell, as its inspectors began to investigate what went wrong on the Gannet Alpha platform’s pipeline.

Hugh Shaw, the Government’s representative for maritime salvage and intervention, said he believed the leak was now “under control”, though it is still leaking around one barrel per day into the sea.

He became involved in the operation on Friday night, three days after the leak started, when it became clear there was “potential for significant pollution”. read more

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Shell, govt spin machine keeps lid on worst UK oil spill for decade

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpioJ-ckrEU

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Shells admits risk of further North Sea oil spill

guardian.co.uk home

Hundreds of tonnes of oil estimated to still be inside an offshore pipeline that has been leaking for a week

  • Press Association
  • guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 17 August 2011 13.59 BST
The Royal Dutch Shell platform Gannett Alpha in the North Sea. Photograph: Ho/Reuters

Shell has admitted that there are hundreds of tonnes of additional oil in the pipeline that has been leaking for a week in the North Sea.

The estimate was revealed as Shell continues to try to stem the flow on the seabed near the Gannet Alpha platform, about 112 miles east of Aberdeen.

Since the leak started last Wednesday, more than 200 tonnes of oil has spilled into the North Sea, making it the worst single leak in the region for more than a decade.

The initial large leak was stopped the following day, but it later emerged that a smaller flow from the same source had been detected. read more

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Shell admits oil leak fix could take weeks

ENERGY giant Shell has made a full apology for its response to the North Sea oil spill and admitted it could take weeks to fix the leak. After days of criticism for keeping details of the spill from its Gannet Alpha platform secret, the oil company conceded it had made mistakes.


17 August 2011

By Jenny Fyall: Environment Correspondent
ENERGY giant Shell has made a full apology for its response to the North Sea oil spill and admitted it could take weeks to fix the leak. After days of criticism for keeping details of the spill from its Gannet Alpha platform secret, the oil company conceded it had made mistakes.
In an interview with The Scotsman, Steve Harris, head of external affairs and communications at Shell Upstream International Europe, confirmed a remaining leak was in a spot so difficult to access, 800ft below the waves, that it could take weeks to stop. He also revealed:

• A first seabird had been seen covered in oil. The breed is not known, but it was spotted flying from the spill area with oil on its wings.

• The pipe that sprung a leak is more than 30 years old and was not spotted by surveys testing the integrity of equipment.

• The size of the spill had grown again to cover 16sq miles. This compares to half a square mile on Monday, and 19 miles by three miles on Sunday. He said this could be because the spill had spread into smaller sections in windy conditions at the weekend, but with yesterday’s calmer weather had joined back together again. read more

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Oil leak is threat to Shell hope in Arctic

It’s only 0.02pc as big as BP’s giant Gulf of Mexico oil leak at the moment.

The Royal Dutch Shell platform Gannett Alpha has leaked 216 tons of oil in to the North Sea, the highest in a decade (REUTERS)

Rowena Mason

By 9:50PM BST 16 Aug 2011

But Royal Dutch Shell’s spillage of 1,300 barrels of crude into the North Sea from the Gannet field is still a big headache for the company as it tries to convince regulators it should be allowed to carry out drilling in the Arctic.

In the wake of BP’s disaster last year, Shell has tried to position itself as the solid and dependable one among the oil majors.

However, that image has been increasingly undermined by a series of issues in the North Sea that Glen Caley, Shell’s technical director in Europe, admits have made this a “challenging year”. read more

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Shell’s second oil leak in North Sea pipeline caused by relief valve

guardian.co.uk home

Campaigners and politicians have criticised the oil company for being slow to release information on the spill

Shell Gannett Alpha platform oil spill in the North Sea. Photograph: Marine Scotland

A relief valve close to the faulty pipeline at Shell’s Gannet Alpha oil platform in the North Sea appears to be the source of a secondary leak that is adding to the worst oil spill in UK waters in a decade.

Green campaigners and members of the Scottish parliament have rounded on the oil company for being slow to release full information on the leak, which was first detected last Wednesday but only disclosed to the public on Friday evening.

Shell said on Tuesday that while the leaking well was “under control”, and the main spill had been shut off successfully, a small quantity of oil was still finding its way to the sea by another pathway. After lengthy searching, the valve was pinpointed as the likely source. read more

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Shell North Sea ‘leak’ is in fact an uncontrolled blowout

UPDATED

Posted by John Donovan ([email protected])

Comment from an expert source that technically the Shell North Sea oil leak is an uncontrolled blowout. Fortunately on a much smaller scale that the BP disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.

COMMENT FROM A 100% RELIABLE EXPERT SOURCE

If the leak at Gannet is coming from the flowline between the well and the platform, it should be a very simple matter to shut it in – but after 5 days, the flow continues.

According to Shell’s news releases, the leaking flowline connects a subsea well to to the Gannet platform. A subsea well has a Christmas tree on the wellhead at the seabed to control flow from the well into the flowline, so if the leak is from the flowline it is a very simple matter to close in the line and depressurize it – and the leak would stop immediately. read more

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Shell detects second leak under North Sea

16 August 2011 Last updated at 08:14

Another leak has been found in the flow line beneath the Gannet Alpha oil platform, 113 miles (180km) off Aberdeen.

Shell has been dealing with the release of an estimated 216 tonnes – 1,300 barrels – from a leak near the platform discovered last week.

The Department of Energy and Climate Change said it was a “substantial” spill, but should disperse naturally.

The oil company said it was working to locate the second leak.

Glen Cayley, technical director of Shell’s exploration and production activities in Europe, said: “We’ve got a very complex sub-sea infrastructure and the position of the leak is in an awkward place with a lot of marine growth. read more

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Anger as Shell fails to answer questions about spillage

Shell’s modus operandi – of giving out information only on what appears to be a need-to-know basis – is not good enough. The public needs to know, and has a right to know.


Published Date: 16 August 2011 By Jenny Fyall Environment Correspondent
ENERGY giant Shell is facing mounting criticism over its secrecy about an oil leak in the North Sea, as the spill was revealed to be twice as large as previously thought. Five days after the leak from the Gannet Alpha rig was spotted about 112 miles east of Aberdeen, Shell finally responded to pressure to reveal the volumes of oil involved.

It confirmed 216 tonnes had spread into the sea – the equivalent of 1,300 barrels of oil. The Scottish Government said at the weekend it involved only about 100 tonnes.

However, a raft of questions today remain unanswered, including how the leak started, why Shell has not yet been able to stop the flow of oil, where exactly the spill is in the North Sea, and whether any seabirds or other wildlife are caught up in it.

Politicians and environment groups have increased their calls for Shell to be more open about the leak. Government figures show it is four times the entire quantity of oil discharged into the North Sea in 2009, and by far the largest spill in UK waters for more than a decade. read more

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Shell North Sea oil spill is ‘substantial’

FROM THE FINANCIAL TIMES August 15, 2011 5.34 pm

An underwater pipeline leak from a North Sea platform operated by Royal Dutch Shell could already have spilt “several hundred tonnes of oil”, which would make it the biggest spill in the UK in the past decade, according to the government.

Although the spill is small in comparison with BP’s last year in the Gulf of Mexico and its size is subject to revision, it is nevertheless “substantial”…

FULL FT ARTICLE

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U.K. Warns of Shell Oil Spill

AUGUST 15, 2011 10.29 A.M. ET

By ALEXIS FLYNN

LONDON—Several hundred tons of crude oil may have spilled into the North Sea as a result of an underwater pipeline leak on a Royal Dutch Shell PLC production platform, the U.K.’s Department of Energy and Climate Change said Monday.

“Current estimates are that the spill could be several hundred tons,” the department said in a statement, adding this was subject to ongoing revision due to the difficulty of assessing the spill.

An undersea pipe at the Gannet Alpha platform has been leaking oil into the ocean for days. Shell confirmed the leak Friday and said Saturday that a nearby well had been shut Wednesday. read more

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Shell mum on flow from oil pipeline leak

Mon Aug 15, 2011 10:24am GMT

LONDON Aug 15 (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell said an oil leak from a ruptured pipeline into the North Sea was slowing but refused to say how much oil has already leaked into the sea.

Oil from the Anglo-Dutch oil major’s pipeline has been spilling into the sea since last Wednesday but the rate of flow has been reducing since the company shut off the well the same day.

A spokesman for Shell on Monday declined to comment on how much oil has leaked, although Alex Salmond, leader of the Scottish regional government, told the BBC on Saturday that around 100 tonnes of oil or about 750 barrels had spilt. read more

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UK: 100s of Tons of Oil Leaked in North Sea Spill

By BEN MCCONVILLE and MEERA SELVA Associated Press

LONDON August 15, 2011 (AP)

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. read more

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Shell accused of secrecy over North Sea platform oil leak

By Ian Forsyth

Published: 15/08/2011

OIL giant Shell was accused last night of being secretive about a North Sea oil spill.

The company was criticised for lack of transparency by both environmental body WWF Scotland and wildlife conservation group RSPB Scotland over the continuing incident at the Gannet Alpha platform.

Between 12 and 120 barrels of oil are understood to have leaked into the North Sea, 112 miles east of Aberdeen, from the pipeline spill spotted last Wednesday. It was two days later, on Friday, when the media was informed. read more

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Shell under criticism for largest oil spill off Scotland in more than a decade

August 15, 2011

CRUDE oil continued to seep from a Shell platform in the North Sea late Sunday as the Anglo-Dutch oil giant came under criticism for what has been described as the worst spill in Britain in more than a decade.

Shell was alerted to the leak from an undersea pipeline Wednesday after an oil sheen was spotted on the surface near the Gannet Alpha production platform, 180km east of Aberdeen, on the Scottish east coast.

The energy giant has since been criticized by environment groups for waiting until Friday to go public with the spill and for refusing to reveal details about the leak, The Scotsman reported. read more

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Shell ‘should have been more open about oil spill’

By Alison Campsie

14 Aug 2011

SHELL is under fire for its handling of an oil leak which has left a 20-mile long and three-mile wide slick in the North Sea.

Although the spill, from the Gannett Alpha platform, around 112 miles east of Aberdeen, has now been contained some 100 tonnes of oil have spilled into open waters.

It is the second leak linked to the platform in just over two years.

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Royal Dutch Shell says North Sea oil leak now ‘under control’

Royal Dutch Shell has said an oil leak from one of its pipelines in the North Sea is now “under control”.

Shell did not say how much oil had been released, but estimated that the size of the sea surface affected was around 31 kms by 4.3 kms at its widest point. Photo: REX

By 7:33PM BST 13 Aug 2011

The company said on Saturday that it had managed to “considerably reduce” the leak from a pipe leading to the Gannet Alpha platform, located 112 miles east of Aberdeen in Scotland.

Shell did not say how much oil had been released since the leak was found on Wednesday, but estimated that the size of the sea surface affected was around 31 kms by 4.3 kms at its widest point.

The company added that it expects “the sheen to disperse naturally through wave action and not reach the shore”. read more

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Experts damning comment on Shell North Sea Oil Spill

Comment from a Shell North Sea Platform Safety & Maintenance Expert on the current oil spill near the Gannet Alpha Platform

…another example of reactive maintenance regime, i.e. allowing, through neglect, equipment to fail and then reacting to the failure rather than, as the Safety Case for Gannet prescribes, preventing failure in the first instance by application of appropriate maintenance, inspection and monitoring. read more

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