BP platform in the North Sea forced to shut after oil spill
BP closed an oil platform in the North Sea after an oil spill was reported over the weekend.
The oil major’s Clair platform, which is about 46 miles west of Scotland’s Shetland Islands in the North Sea, has been shut while an investigation is conducted into the leak which occurred yesterday.
BP said that the oil spill, which it attributed to a technical issue, was stopped within an hour of the problem being identified.
Read more: Bit of a blip for BP as Deepwater Horizon disaster and low oil prices eat into profits
"We are investigating the cause of the technical issue and the field will remain offline for the time being,” BP said in a statement.
"At present, we believe the most appropriate response is to allow the oil to disperse naturally at sea, but contingencies for the action are being prepared.
BP is working with Oil Spill Response Limited and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) to determine any environmental impact from the leak and find the best way to respond.
Read more: Oil majors' profits to pass $1 trillion mark this year
"Oil has been observed on the sea surface and we are monitoring its movement. Both direct observation and oil spill modelling indicate the oil to be moving in a northerly direction away from land," BP said.
BEIS said that it would conduct an investigation to determine the cause of the incident, which is standard procedure.
"We are working closely with BP and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency to resolve the incident on the Clair platform," a spokesman said.
Deepwater Horizon review: Blockbuster based on 2010 BP disaster is boring up until the fireball appears