Around 216 tons (1,300 barrels) of oil has leaked from the Gannet Alpha platform, 112 miles (180 kilometres) east of Aberdeen on the Scottish coast, the Anglo-Dutch oil giant said.
The estimate is bigger than the total amount spilled in any year in British waters over the last 10 years, according to figures from the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC).
“It is not easy to quantify the total volume spilled but we estimate so far that it is around 216 tons," said Glen Cayley, a Shell technical director.
“This is a significant spill in the context of annual amounts of oil spilled in the North Sea. We care about the environment and we regret that the spill happened. We have taken it very seriously and responded promptly to it."
The subsea well was shut on Wednesday and work is ongoing to stop the oil remaining in the flowline from leaking.
The current daily spillage rate is below one tonne, while the amount of oil on the surface is estimated at about one tonne, covering 0.5 square kilometres, Shell said. Read the full report here.
Source: IOL, Scietech, London.
