The Rogaland county public prosecutor has notified Statoil that it has been fined NOK 25 million following the oil leak from the Statfjord A loading buoy on 12 December 2007.
ºÚÁÏÉç˜We have noted the public prosecutorºÚÁÏÉç™s decision,ºÚÁÏÉç™ says Thorstein Hole, Vice President for the operations west cluster in Statoil. ºÚÁÏÉç˜WeºÚÁÏÉç™ll be taking time to study the grounds for the fine.ºÚÁÏÉç™
Improvements since accident
According to Hole, extensive improvements have been implemented after the accident on the North Sea field, Hole reports. ºÚÁÏÉç˜WeºÚÁÏÉç™ve made changes to the way we plan and implement modifications, strengthened the maintenance programme and adopted more secure routines for offshore loading. Together with the shipping companies, weºÚÁÏÉç™ve also implemented extensive upgrading work on 20 shuttle tankers we utilise on the Norwegian continental shelf.ºÚÁÏÉç™
No identifiable harm to environment
More than 20 000 offshore loading operations have been conducted on the NCS over the past 30 years, including 7000 on Statfjord. ºÚÁÏÉç˜The measures weºÚÁÏÉç™ve adopted have enhanced loading robustness and security even further. Monitoring of these operations has also been improved, so that such incidents can be spotted early.ºÚÁÏÉç™ No identifiable harm was caused to the environment by the oil spill on Statfjord, according to a report from the Sintef Research Foundation, the Norwegian Institute for Marine Research and the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research.