Polluting the Gulf of Mexico does not seem to be enough for Big Oil … and polluting Nigeria does not seem to be enough for Shell in particular.
From daily The Guardian in Britain:
Shell confirms oil leak in North Sea
Company confirms spill from flow line serving Gannet Alpha platform and takes further measures to isolate it
Agencies
Friday 12 August 2011 23.57 BST
Royal Dutch Shell has said it is working to contain an oil leak at its Gannet Alpha platform in the North Sea, but declined to specify the size of the leak.
What a shame that such a polluting platform, run by Shell on their principle: “Profits first, profits second … profits three hundredth first, environment a very poor three hundredth second” is named for such a beautiful bird.
“We can confirm we are managing an oil leak in a flow line that serves the Gannet Alpha platform. We deployed a remote-operated vehicle to check for a subsea leak after a light sheen was noticed in the area,” a Shell spokesman said.
“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 depressurised.”
Asked about the size of the leak, a Shell spokeswoman declined to say.
One of the wells at the oilfield 112 miles east of Aberdeen has been closed, but Shell did not specify whether output was reduced.
According to Argus Media, the Gannet field produced about 13,500 barrels of oil between January and April. The field is co-owned with US firm Exxon and operated by Shell.
A document available on Shell‘s website says the Gannet facilities have capacity to export 88,000 barrels of crude oil per day.
Shell also said it had restarted its North Sea Brent Alpha and Bravo fields on Thursday after a seven-month shutdown, while two other fields remained shut.
The company shut all four of its Brent platforms, Alpha, Bravo, Charlie and Delta, in January for repairs.
“Brent Alpha and Brent Bravo are producing gas for export via the Flags(far north liquids and gas line) to the St Fergus gas plant,” Shell said.
“It is anticipated that Brent Delta will resume export in the near future and Brent Charlie will restart in early 2012.”
The statement said that the work at the Brent fields was technically challenging and depended on the weather in the area.
Green party co-leader Patrick Harvie said: “It’s too early to tell how serious this spill is, but it is imperative now that Shell act both urgently and efficiently.
“They must also keep the public and the authorities properly informed about progress, something BP failed to do during the Gulf of Mexico disaster last year.
“Whatever the outcome of this incident, it certainly underlines the need for the oil industry to publish proper response plans, as Greenpeace have been asking them to do. If they refuse to do so, ministers should act to make it a condition of their licences.”
Before the shut-in, the four Brent fields produced about 4.5 million cubic metres a day of gas, less than 2 percent of current UK gas demand, and just 20,000 barrels per day of oil.
Brent was once Britain’s largest oilfield, and still has global significance as one of the four key North Sea crude streams along with Forties, Oseberg and Ekofisk.
See also here.
Shell “Should Have Been More Open About Oil Spill” in North Sea: here.
Environmental campaigners demanded today that energy giant Royal Dutch Shell cough up more details about the nature of an oil spill in the North Sea: here.
Dear Kitty. Some blog 
Shell says North Sea oil pipeline still leaking
By Tom Bergin
LONDON | Sat Aug 13, 2011 7:51pm BST
(Reuters) – 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 was continuing to reduce pressure in the pipeline on Saturday, reducing the flow of oil.
Alex Salmond, leader of the Scottish regional government, told the BBC around 100 tonnes of oil, around 750 barrels, had leaked into the sea.
This compares with almost 5 million barrels spilt into the Gulf of Mexico by BP’s leaking Macondo well last year.
The Anglo Dutch oil major first revealed the leak late on Friday but a spokesman said on Saturday it had been detected two days earlier.
A spokeswoman for the Maritime & Coastguard Agency said it had no information on the status of the clean up operation, and that none of its staff were at the spill site.
Environmental group Greenpeace complained about the lack of information on the leak.
“Right now we don’t know how serious this is, what we do know is that the North Sea is supposed to be ultra-safe, we’re told spills can’t happen there,” oil campaigner Ben Ayliffe said in an emailed statement.
Shell said on Friday that one of the wells at the Gannet oil field, 180km (112 miles) east of Aberdeen, had been closed but declined to say if output was reduced.
According to Argus Media, the Gannet field produced about 13,500 barrels of oil in January-April. The field is co-owned with U.S. major Exxon and operated by Shell.
A document available from Shell’s website says the Gannet facilities have capacity to export 88,000 barrels of crude oil per day.
(Reporting by Tom Bergin; editing by Rosalind Russell)
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