Royal Dutch Shell Plc said a ruptured North Sea pipeline continued to leak oil on Saturday and that it had been seeping crude into the sea for two days before the company declared it. Shell said it cannot specify how much oil may have escaped, but it knows which line leaked and said the flow has been stemmed as the underwater well has been shut in and the line at the Gannet Alpha platform is being de-pressurized. Gannet is 110 miles (180 kilometers) east of Aberdeen, Scotland.
Royal Dutch Shell Plc said a ruptured North Sea pipeline continued to leak oil on Saturday and that it had been seeping crude into the sea for two days before the company declared it. Shell said it cannot specify how much oil may have escaped, but it knows which line leaked and said the flow has been stemmed as the underwater well has been shut in and the line at the Gannet Alpha platform is being de-pressurized. Gannet is 110 miles (180 kilometers) east of Aberdeen, Scotland.
!ADVERTISEMENT!
A remote-operated vehicle was deployed to check for a subsea leak after a light sheen was noticed in the area. The subsea well has been shut in, and the flow line is being monitored.
North Sea oil production is a major industry in Scotland, centered on Aberdeen.
As Britain battles to rein in its record deficit and revive growth, it is a key sector being relied upon by the Treasury.
In March, Britain raised the rate of tax on companies operating in the North Sea to enable lower petrol prices for motorists hit by soaring oil costs.
The charge levied on oil and gas production went up from 20 per cent to 32 per cent.
Commercial extraction of oil on the shores of the North Sea dates back to 1851, when James Young retorted oil from torbanite (boghead coal, or oil shale) mined in the Midland Valley of Scotland.
Across the sea in Germany, oil was found in the Wietze field near Hanover in 1859, leading to the discovery of 70 more fields, mostly in Lower Cretaceous and Jurassic reservoirs, producing a combined total of around 8,400 barrels per day.
Amoco discovered the Montrose field about 135 miles east of Aberdeen. BP had been awarded several licenses in the area in the second licensing round late in 1965, but had been reluctant to work on them. The discovery of Ekofisk prompted them to drill what turned out to be a dry hole in May 1970, followed by the discovery of the giant Forties oilfield in October 1970. The following year, Shell Expro discovered the giant Brent oilfield in the northern North Sea east of Shetland in Scotland. Oil production started from the Argyll field (now Ardmore) in June 1975 followed by Forties in November of that year.
For further information: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44123547/ns/us_news-environment/#.TkfTgGF3Yt0 or http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/13/us-shell-idUSTRE77C0UG20110813?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29&utm_content=Google+Reader or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Sea_oil
Photo: http://www.seaonscreen.org/vleet/content/eng/drilling-platforms.htm
