Shell North Sea oil spill - live blog. 2 leaks, one still going, worst spill in a decade there

[The Straight Story]

10.23am: Good morning, and welcome to our live coverage of the worst oil spill the north sea has seen for a decade.

Shell, which manages the Gannet Alpha platform just over a hundred miles east of Aberdeen, has admitted this morning that there is a second leak. The first, which was discovered last Wednesday but only confirmed on Friday, has already spilled approximately 1,300 barrels of oil into the sea, more than the amount spilled across the whole of 2009.

Shell claims that the first leak is "pretty much dead" and the second is minor, and that it has reduced the leak from 5 barrels a day on Monday to 2 barrels a day now. Its technical director, Glen Cayley, said:

The leak that we've stemmed was in the flow line so job number one was to close in the wells and isolate the reservoir, which of course is the large volume from the leak.
"We're confident that it's under control. The residual small leak is in an awkward position to get to. This is complex sub-sea infrastructure, and really getting into it amongst quite dense marine growth is proving a challenge.

Green groups are worried about the impact on wildlife, and have criticised Shell for a lack of transparency:




http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2011/aug/16/shell-north-sea-oil-spill-live