Royal Brightness Closes Safety Valve After North Sea Pipeline Fails to Leak

Abstract: According to Dow Jones Newswires' August 24 report, Royal Dutch Shell Petroleum Company said on the 24th that since the closure of the damaged oil pipeline safety valve on the 19th, the company’s offshore oil equipment in the North Sea no longer leaked.

Royal Dutch Shell Oil Company issued a statement on the 24th, saying that since the closure of the safety valve of the damaged pipeline on the 19th, the company’s offshore oil equipment in the North Sea no longer had an oil spill.

Shell said in a statement, "Since 19th, no oil has leaked from the oil line or valve. At present, we are still taking continuous monitoring measures to ensure that there will be no further oil spill accidents."

A total of about 1,300 barrels of oil leaked into the North Sea within a 9-day period beginning on August 10 when a submerged oil pipeline from Shell began. Shell maintenance personnel finally closed the safety valve where the oil spill was located on the 19th and successfully terminated the oil spill accident.

Shell said that a reconnaissance flight report conducted on the 23rd said that there was no apparent oil layer on the sea.

At present, about 660 metric tons of oil (close to 4,000 barrels) still accumulate in pipelines that have been depressurized and closed. Shell is currently assessing this to determine which method to use to safely clean up the accumulated oil. The cleaning process may take several weeks.

Hugh Shaw, the representative of the British Department of Energy and Climate Change, said that after Shell took effective block action, the risk of more oil being leaked was significantly reduced. He said that to confirm the exact location of the oil spill takes Shell for three to four days.

The Scottish government issued a statement saying that the preliminary environmental impact assessment did not find that the oil spill had an impact on birds and marine life, but the Scottish government stated that it will continue to monitor the situation.

[Event Review] Royal Dutch Shell said that as of now, its drilling oil spill in the North Sea region of the United Kingdom has leaked about 1300 barrels of oil and the leak rate is less than five barrels per day.

Comprehensive media reported on August 15, Royal Dutch Shell said on the 15th, on the 10th occurred in the company's oil spill in the British North Sea area GannetAlpha drilling platform, about 1300 barrels of oil has been leaked into the sea.

Glen Cayley, chief technology officer of Shell Europe’s exploration and production activities, said that it is difficult to estimate the total amount of leakage, but so far it has already leaked 216 tons of oil, or 1300 barrels. Shell said the current leak was leaking at less than five barrels a day.