Shell says safety ‘top priority’ after group attacks its North Sea record

OIL giant Shell has defended its safety regulations after WWF Scotland called for restrictions to its operations in the North Sea.

A spokesman for the company, which last week tackled the worst oil spill in UK waters for more than a decade, said safety was its “foremost priority”.

Environmental organisation WWF Scotland called on Sunday for the UK government to restrict all the company’s operations in the North Sea until an independent audit had been carried out on its installations.

More than 200 tonnes of oil spilled into the water after a leak was detected from a flowline to Shell’s Gannet Alpha platform, about 112 miles east of Aberdeen. It was fixed on Friday.

Dr Richard Dixon, director of WWF Scotland, said: “Revelations over Shell’s own concerns about the Gannet field and about a series of prosecutions and warnings from the Health and Safety Executive show a company that is struggling to operate safely in the North Sea.

“The UK government needs to restrict Shell’s operations in the North Sea until a proper independent audit has been carried out on their installations.”

His comments followed revelations that an internal investigation by Shell in 2003 showed that dozens of unapproved repairs had been carried out on the Gannet Alpha platform.

It has also come to light that since 2005 the British oil multinational has been prosecuted four times and served 21 prohibition and improvement notices by Health and Safety Executive inspectors – more than almost any other oil company.

Shell said in a statement that the 2003 audit had led to a “huge investment programme”.

A spokesman said: “Safety is Shell’s foremost priority at all times. As part of that commitment, in 2004 Shell initiated a £728 million project to upgrade our assets in the North Sea. This has been completed.

“This year alone, we plan to invest approximately £363m in our assets in the region.

“The 2003 audit, eight years ago, was one of the things that led to the huge investment programme.”

Meanwhile, The Scotsman has learned that emergency response information used by the oil and gas industry to protect seabirds in the wake of an oil spill in the North Sea is 13 years out of date.

Following the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC), which advises governments, drew up a report recommending Oil and Gas UK spend £4m on a scheme to bring the data on seabirds in the area up to date, in case of a similar event in UK waters.

However, Oil and Gas UK has so far failed to take up the recommendations, postponing a decision on whether to do so until next month.

Stuart Housden, the director of RSPB Scotland said: “Events in the North Sea over the last week should serve as a wake-up call that we cannot rely on 13-year-old data to plan our response.”

Mick Borwell, Oil & Gas UK’s environmental issues director, said its oil spill response forum was currently discussing a potential programme of work with JNCC.