Industry “must learn” from Total leak

The fine, totalling £1.125 million, was given to the company after it admitted to “failures” on its Elgin platform off the coast of Aberdeen, Scotland.

The failures have been attributed to rig workers attempting a “well kill”, which led to “a sudden and uncontrolled” release of gas and condensate, creating a “real risk of fire and explosion”, the Health and Safety Executive said.

Because of the leak, neighbouring platforms were shut down and a two-mile shipping and aircraft exclusion zone was imposed around the Elgin fields, the HSE said.

HSE operations manager Russel Breen said the incident was foreseeable and entirely preventable.

“There were a number of failures on the part of Total, which contributed to the blowout.

“They failed to properly calculate the weight of kill fluid required; departed from the proposed well kill plan without considering relevant contingency arrangements and relied on an untested assumption that a sudden uncontrolled release at the wellhead could not occur.

“All of these contributed to them losing control of the well and the sudden uncontrolled release of gas,” Breen said.

According the HSE, it took 51 days for the well to be brought under control, allowing more than 6,000 tonnes and gas condensate to be released, which is equivalent to more than 300 road tankers.

“Industry must learn from this, it is an important reminder of the ever-present hazards with oil and gas production and the need for them to be rigorously managed,” Breen said.

“This could have easily led to loss of life.”

Total’s fine follows a similar scenario last month in which Shell admitting to failures that lead to an oil leak in the vicinity of its Gannet F field, 180km off the coast Aberdeen in the North Sea.

In that instance, however, the company was fined just £22,500 – a fine which WWF Scotland director Lang Banks referred to as: “literally a drop in the ocean when compared to the billions earned by Shell annually.”

Likewise, today’s announcement has led RMT, the transport union, to label the fine a “slap on the wrist”, deeming it “wholly inadequate”.

RMT general secretary Mick Cash said: “For a giant global player like Total this fine can be written off as petty cash and a minor inconvenience and does nothing to hold the senior management of the company to real and genuine corporate account.

“RMT is also angry that the findings that led to this judgement are not being shared with us and discussed openly so that real lessons can be learnt to prevent a repetition.”