Shell under fire over North Sea oil leak

OIL giant Shell was accused of being secretive yesterday over an oil leak from one of its platforms in the North Sea off the coast of Scotland.

The company last night said it had "considerably reduced" the amount of oil leaking from the Gannet Alpha platform about 112 miles east of Aberdeen - but maintained a stony silence over how much was still escaping and how much had already escaped.

First Minister Alex Salmond said he believed the leak was likely to be in the region of 100 tonnes of oil.

Salmond added that the Scottish Government would hold an investigation into the incident.

Shell publicly reported the spill on Friday night, though it is understood that the company was alerted to a "light sheen" of oil on the surface of the water on Wednesday.

In a statement yesterday evening, the firm said an area measuring 31km by 4.3km had been covered by a thin layer of oil and claimed that weather conditions meant it would be unlikely to reach the shore.

But environmentalists, who had earlier attacked Shell for its silence over the incident, called for "greater transparency" from Shell over the incident. Shell on Friday said it had deployed a Remote Operated Vehicle (ROV) to the site to investigate the extent of the problem.

"The leak has now been going on for a number of days, but Shell has only put out a statement once they have it all under control," said Richard Dixon, director of WWF Scotland. "They have a clear picture of what is going on from the ROV they have sent down there, but the fact they have not released these pictures from the ROV or given more detail is not good for transparency. After the Gulf of Mexico disaster, BP came under a lot of pressure because of its lack of transparency - and greater transparency is what Shell should be focusing on here."

Campaigners warned that a thin surface sheen would account for only a tiny proportion of the total amount of oil spilled - and said that the rest must be dispersed elsewhere in the water.

"It is not a huge disaster, but it is a significant amount of oil," added Mr Dixon. "If the figure of 100 tonnes is right, then very little of that is on the surface."

RSPB Scotland director Stuart Housden warned that further information was needed to ensure that wildlife in the area received as much protection as possible.

"We need to know the type of oil, how much has been released, the local weather conditions and the readiness to deal with any problems," he said.

"These data are vital for proper contingency planning. This area of the North Sea is full of young sea birds dispersing from breeding colonies from Shetland to the Aberdeenshire coast."

The First Minister said officials from Marine Scotland, which manages Scotland's waters, had joined Shell staff at the incident control room in Aberdeen yesterday.

"We should obviously put things into context," said Salmond. "We are probably dealing with a leak here of 100 tonnes or so of oil, and if you take the Gulf of Mexico that was half a million tonnes.

"But none the less, a pipe- line leak is a serious matter so the first thing to establish is whether the mechanisms are in place to control it as quickly as possible.

"That is being done at the present moment, and of course and investigation will follow to establish the cause."In a statement last night, the company said it had shut the subsea well on Wednesday and had successfully isolated and depressurised the leaking flowline on the seabed.

"Shell UK Limited confirms the oil leak in a flow line to our Gannet Alpha platform is under control," it said.

"Shell takes all spills seriously, regardless of size, and we have responded promptly to this incident."