Cap device will seal off oil well in event of spill

A NEW device to seal off an oil well in the event of a spill in Scottish waters was unveiled yesterday.

The well cap works by shutting in and holding pressure on a leaking well and uses valves to close down the pipe and stop oil flowing into the sea. It is designed to minimise environmental damage and give engineers time to find a permanent solution to sealing off the well.

The cap was built after a recommendation from the Oil Spill Prevention and Response Advisory Group (OSPRAG) after the Deep Water Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in April 2010.

The new device was unveiled almost a month after more than 200 tonnes of oil spilled into the North Sea from a leak in the flowline to Shell’s Gannet Alpha platform about 112 miles east of Aberdeen. It was the worst oil spill in the region in more than a decade. The cap will be stored by the OSPRAG in Scotland.

James House, chairman of OSPRAG, said: “Despite the fact that there has not been a major loss of well control in the UK in over 20 years of offshore operations, we believe that having such a contingency device here in the UK is essential as it allows a quick response no matter how unlikely a scenario this is.

“Our long-term focus remains, however, to prevent such incidents from occurring in the first place and the cap complements other work being carried out by OSPRAG in spill prevention.

WWF Scotland director Dr Richard Dixon said: “Of course, we welcome any new equipment that may help deal with an oil spill, but the main lessons from the Gulf of Mexico are about oil companies cutting back on safety to make more profits.

“If BP and its contractors had had the right people with the right skills on their platform in the Gulf, there would have been no leak in the first place. Similarly, it was only after its recent spill in the North Sea that it was revealed that Shell had received several censures and warnings.”