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.
º£½Ç³Ô¹ÏÍø˜We have noted the public prosecutorº£½Ç³Ô¹ÏÍø™s decision,º£½Ç³Ô¹ÏÍø™ says Thorstein Hole, Vice President for the operations west cluster in Statoil. º£½Ç³Ô¹ÏÍø˜Weº£½Ç³Ô¹ÏÍø™ll be taking time to study the grounds for the fine.º£½Ç³Ô¹ÏÍø™
Improvements since accident
According to Hole, extensive improvements have been implemented after the accident on the North Sea field, Hole reports. º£½Ç³Ô¹ÏÍø˜Weº£½Ç³Ô¹ÏÍø™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, weº£½Ç³Ô¹ÏÍø™ve also implemented extensive upgrading work on 20 shuttle tankers we utilise on the Norwegian continental shelf.º£½Ç³Ô¹ÏÍø™
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. º£½Ç³Ô¹ÏÍø˜The measures weº£½Ç³Ô¹ÏÍø™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.º£½Ç³Ô¹ÏÍø™ 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.