Oil Spill Disasters

Nigeria coast braces for biggest oil spill in 13 years

2011-12-23T01:30:07Z

LAGOS/LONDON (Reuters) - Nigerian authorities were putting emergency measures in place on Thursday to prevent an oil spill from a Royal Dutch Shell facility, the biggest leak in Nigeria for more than 13 years, washing up on its densely populated coast.

Tuesday's spill, whic...

Rush to clean major oil spill from Shell field off Nigeria

2011-12-22T18:30:13Z

Authorities rushed to prevent one of Nigeria's worst recent oil spills from reaching the West African nation's shoreline on Thursday, with production from a major Shell field also shut due to the leak.

Shell, which said the leak has been stopped, has estimated that less than 40,000 barrels of crude have spilled into the sea and deployed ships with dispersants to attack the slick. Planes were also being mobilised.

It was Nigeria's ...

Leak halts production at major Shell field off Nigeria

2011-12-21T09:30:25Z

An oil leak has caused a production halt at a Shell facility off Nigeria capable of producing 200,000 barrels per day, the company said Wednesday, adding that "less than 40,000 barrels" have spilled.

"Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company can confirm it is responding to an oil leak at the 200,000 barrel-per-day capacity Bonga deepwater facility, approximately 120 kilometres off the Nigeria coast," a statement sai...

Conditional OK for Shell's Alaska offshore oil plan

2011-12-16T16:00:22Z

HOUSTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management on Friday conditionally approved Shell Gulf of Mexico Inc's revised plan to drill six oil exploration wells in the Chuk...

Nigerian rights group reports fresh spills in oil region

2011-12-03T14:30:07Z

A Nigerian rights group on Saturday reported fresh spills from a pipeline operated by Agip, the local subsidiary of Italian oil group Eni, in a community in the southern oil state of Bayelsa.

The Environmental Rights Action (ERA)/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (FoEN), said in a statement it visited...

Environmentalists attack Pacific pipeline plan

2011-11-29T20:30:39Z

Environmental groups attacked a proposed pipeline from Canada's oil sands to the Pacific coast on Tuesday, saying it would attract tanker shipping and risk oil spills along a pristine coastline.

A report by the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Pembina Insti...

Chevron under fire over size of Brazil oil spill

2011-11-18T19:30:15Z

US energy giant Chevron drew fire from Brazilian officials amid conflicting accounts of the size of an oil spill at an offshore well it operated off Rio de Janeiro state.

Rio state's Environment Secretary Carlos Minc questioned official accounts of the spill, saying the "accident must be bigger than what is being announced."

"We are going to deman...

Progress seen in fixing Brazil oil spill: Chevron

2011-11-15T10:30:21Z

(Reuters) - Chevron Corp. said on Tuesday that oil flow from an appraisal well drilled at its Frade field in Brazil appears to have ceased, the first sign of progress in efforts to contain an oil spill in the region.

Monitoring by the company also showed "a significant decrease" in the amount...

Shell reports new oil spill in Nigeria

2011-11-13T11:00:08Z

YENAGOA, Nigeria (Reuters) - Anglo-Dutch energy major Shell said on Sunday it was containing a new oil spill in Nigeria's onshore delta, the latest in a string of leaks from the company's pipelines, which it has blamed on sabotage attacks and oil theft.

The spill came from part of Shell's...

Shell reports fresh spill in southern Nigeria

2011-11-13T10:30:19Z

Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell on Sunday reported a fresh spill from a key delivery pipeline in southern Nigeria, but said it has contained the leak.

"SPDC (Shell Petroleum Development Company) contained a spill in Adibawa delivery line which was reported yesterday (Saturday)," Shell's Nigerian joint venture said in a statememt.

"We had dispatched ...

Amnesty urges Shell Nigeria to start $1 billion clean up

2011-11-09T16:30:44Z

LAGOS (Reuters) - Royal Dutch Shell's failure to mop up two oil spills in the Niger Delta has caused huge suffering to locals whose fisheries and farmland were poisoned, and it must pay $1 billion to start cleaning up the region, Obama administration on Tuesday proposed a new plan for offshore oil and gas leases in the Gulf of Mexico and off the coast of Alaska, including the environmentally sensitive Arctic.

The proposed program for 2012-2017 sets out 12 lease sales for areas owned by the federal government in the Gulf of Mexico and three in Ala...

EU to extend coastal pollution fines to 200 nautical miles

2011-11-07T10:02:25Z

The European Commission on Friday proposed new rules to force oil-drilling companies to pay for pollution caused up to 200 nautical miles off European coastlines.

Under the proposals, the "polluter pays" principle for damages by oil and gas conmpanies will be extended to 200 miles (about 370 kilometres) against the current 12 nautical miles.

"Today, most oil and gas in Nigerian environmental group on Monday claimed an oil spill from a pipeline operated by Italian firm ENI had badly polluted an area in the south of Africa's largest oil producer.

The spill which reportedly occurred on September 27 is said to have polluted the swamps of the Ikeinghenbiri area of Bayelsa state in the main o...

Nigerians seek $1 billion from Shell for oil spills

2011-10-20T21:30:10Z

A Nigerian tribal king filed a lawsuit in a US court seeking $1 billion from Royal Dutch Shell to compensate for decades of pollution that sickened his people and damaged their lands, his lawyer said Thursday.

The suit was filed a day after the US Supreme Court said it will consider a...

TransCanada offers Nebraska concessions for pipeline

2011-10-19T09:32:03Z

OMAHA, Nebraska (Reuters) - TransCanada Corp has offered a $100 million performance bond and other oil spill protection measures to Nebraska legislators in an attempt to reduce opposition to the company's proposed $7 bi...

New Zealand counts wildlife cost from oil spill

2011-10-15T19:30:22Z

In a wildlife rescue centre on New Zealand's Bay of Plenty, volunteers grimly bag the oil-soaked bodies of dead birds, victims of the country's biggest sea pollution disaster.

Huge green bins are lined up in one corner of the centre at Tauranga to receive growing numbers of avian carcasses in the wake of an oil ...

New Zealand oil slick clean-up swings into action

2011-10-08T18:30:24Z

Barges began scooping up an oil slick on New Zealand's pristine Bay of Plenty, as salvage crews prepared for the delicate task of pumping fuel from a crippled container ship stuck on a reef.

The New Zealand navy also on Sunday had two ships on the bay testing equipment designed to contain oil that spilled when the 47,000-tonne vessel Rena hit a reef off the North Island o...

Oil spill as container ship hits N. Zealand reef

2011-10-05T17:30:34Z

A large container ship ran aground on a reef off New Zealand's North Island Wednesday, releasing a "light sheen of oil" but not posing a major environmental hazard, the country's maritime authority said.

The 47,000 tonne container vessel "Rena" hit a reef about 12 nautical miles (22 kilometres) off the coast of Tauranga early in the morning, MOBILE, Alabama (Reuters) - Auburn University researchers said oil mats submerged in the seabed more than a year after the biggest oil spill in U.S. history pose long-term threats to coastal ecosystems across the northern Sweden's southwest coast is the worst in the area in years and the clean up will take weeks, the Swedish coast guard said Sunday.

Authorities first learnt of the spill on Thursday, but its magnitude was not immediately clear.

"The accidental oil spill, on which the the coast guard is working day and night in the Bohuslan archipelago, is the most substantial in the southwest of Sweden in many years," a sta...

US report spreads blame for BP oil spill

2011-09-14T17:30:24Z

A key US government report spreads the blame for the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico Wednesday, citing a bad cement job, poor management by BP and its subcontractors and risky shortcuts. The findings by the agency that regulates offshore drilling are largely in line with other investigations into the 2010 disaster, but o...

US Gulf spill fund pays out £3bn in first year

2011-08-24T13:30:25Z

Victims of BP's disastrous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico have received more than £3 billion in compensation since a fund was set up a year ago, officials said.

The money has gone to 204,434 individuals and businesses, mainly in the five-state Gulf region: Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and

US Gulf spill fund pays out $5 bn in first year

2011-08-24T13:30:23Z

Victims of BP's disastrous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico have received more than $5 billion in compensation since a fund was set up a year ago, officials said.

The money has gone to 204,434 individuals and businesses, mainly in the five-state Gulf region: Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and

Nigeria's oil-tainted Ogoni weary of blame game

2011-08-24T04:00:09Z

OGONILAND, Nigeria (Reuters) - Skillfully scooping water from beneath a thick black carpet of crude, veteran Nigerian fisherman Suagelo Kpalap gives a shrug of resignation at the mention of the latest twist in an oil spill blame game he's watched for decades.

A U.N. report released this ...

Shell warns on Nigerian exports after damage to pipelines

2011-08-23T14:30:21Z

Oil giant Shell on Tuesday warned it may not meet contractual obligations on certain exports from Nigeria after sabotage caused damage to two pipelines in the country's main oil-producing region.

Shell's Nigerian joint venture "has declared force majeure on Bonny Light exports for the remainder of August as well as September and October," the company said in a statement.

Force majeure is a legal term releasing a company from contr...

Sabotage causes Nigeria oil spills, production halt: Shell

2011-08-22T14:30:22Z

Sabotage has led to six oil spills from one Shell pipeline in Nigeria since the start of the month, the company said on Monday, while damage to another line has caused a temporary production halt.

The six spills have occurred along the Okordia-Rumuekpe trunk line at Ikarama in Bayelsa State in the oil-producing ...

ConocoPhillips finds 9 new leaks in China oil spill

2011-08-20T20:30:25Z

US oil giant ConocoPhillips, already facing legal action and mounting public anger over a huge oil spill off China's northeast coast, has found nine new leaks in the same area, authorities said.

The State Oceanic Administration said on Saturday ConocoPhillips had reported the leakages near a platform in Bohai Bay

Shell divers shut off North Sea oil leak

2011-08-19T15:30:26Z

Divers working for oil giant Shell have turned off the valve which has been leaking oil into the North Sea causing the worst spill in the area for a decade, the company said Friday.

Royal Dutch Shell has been seeking to stem a leak near the Gannet Alpha oil platform off the east coast of Scotland

Gulf of Mexico oil crew ignored warnings: probe

2011-08-19T06:00:13Z

The crew of an oil rig that exploded in the Gulf of Mexico last year causing one of the worst oil spills in US history ignored warning signs a disaster was imminent, an investigator said Friday.

Marshall Islands deputy maritime affairs commissioner Reuters) - Oil major Royal Dutch Shell said a large volume of oil remained in its leaking pipeline, raising the possibility that Britain's worse oil spill for a decade could worsen, but said the extra amount would only seep out in a...

China lawyer sues oil giants over spill

2011-08-17T06:30:45Z

A Chinese lawyer is suing a state-owned energy giant and its US partner over a huge oil spill off China's northeast coast, amid public anger over the resulting pollution, state media said Wednesday.

More than 2,100 barrels of oil and oil-based mud -- a substance used as a lubricant in undersea drilling -- have leaked from two platforms in BEIJING (Reuters) - China's marine authorities expressed growing frustration at the failure of a unit of ConocoPhillips to contain a two-month oil spill that has spread across the northeast coast and again urged it to halt the leak by t...

China to sue US oil giant for spill

2011-08-16T07:30:20Z

China's maritime authority said Tuesday it will sue the American company behind a massive oil spill off its northeast coast for "damage to the environment".

US oil giant ConocoPhillips has said 2,100 barrels of oil leaked from the platform it operates with a Chinese partner in Bohai Bay.

...

Greenland posts Cairn oil spill plan to combat fears

2011-08-16T06:30:11Z

COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Greenland has published British explorer Cairn Energy's oil spill response plan in a bid to calm fears about Arctic exploration after environmental group

Shell says pipeline still leaking oil into North Sea

2011-08-16T01:00:05Z

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil major Royal Dutch Shell said its ruptured pipeline in the North Sea continued to leak oil on Tuesday in what is thought to be the worst oil spill since 2000.

The company was not able to give an estimate of when it expects...

North Sea oil leak biggest in decade: Britain

2011-08-15T15:30:25Z

An oil spill from a North Sea platform is the biggest in British waters in a decade, government figures showed Monday as Shell battled to close off the leak completely.

Around 216 tonnes (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 b...

Greenland to publish oil spill plan: minister

2011-08-15T09:00:08Z

LONDON (Reuters) - Greenland is due to publish its oil spill response plan later on Monday, the territory's deputy minister for Mineral Resources said, in a move which could dampen some of the controversy surrounding oil exploration in its waters.

"Our Minister is going to announce that we will make public the oil spill contingency plan," Dep...

India's Mundra port bans old ships after oil spill

2011-08-10T01:30:09Z

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - India's Mundra port has banned ships older than 25 years of age from entering its waters after a sunken cargo ship leaked oil off the coast of Mumbai last week, a maritime firm said on Wednesday.

Panama-flagged cargo...

Oil slick spreads from sunken ship off Mumbai

2011-08-08T06:30:22Z

Indian authorities on Monday worked to clean up an oil spill from a cargo ship that sank off Mumbai last week, with oil found on beaches and in water near the city's shoreline.

The defence ministry, which has responsibility for the coastguard, said the latest aerial survey of the slick indicated that broken patches of oil had been spotted up to 12 nautical miles from the vessel.

But the department said the oil was still eight to nin...

Analysis: Nigerian oil region's gloomy outlook unmoved by U.N.

2011-08-05T08:00:19Z

ABUJA (Reuters) - A landmark U.N. report on 50 years of oil pollution in Nigeria is unlikely to bring the change many had hoped for, after Shell and the national petroleum company went on the defensive and weary local communities said they...

Nigerian oil pollution may need world's biggest clean-up: UN

2011-08-04T17:30:15Z

Decades of oil pollution in Nigeria's Ogoniland region may require the world's biggest ever clean-up, the UN environmental agency said Thursday as it released a landmark report on the issue.

The United Nations Environment Programme also called for the oil industr...

U.N. to deliver oil spill report to Nigerian president

2011-08-04T09:30:23Z

ABUJA (Reuters) - The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) will hand Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan a report on oil pollution on Thursday, unveiling ...

Shell admits 'devastating' Nigeria oil spills

2011-08-03T15:30:20Z

Oil giant Royal Dutch Shell on Wednesday accepted responsibility for two devastating oil spills in the Niger Delta which lawyers say have destroyed the livelihoods of a fishing community.

The Bodo community took legal action in Britain against the Anglo-Dutch group over the spills in ...

Mississippi sues Feinberg, BP fund

2011-07-12T18:30:15Z

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood filed a lawsuit on Tuesday to force Kenneth Feinberg, administrator of BP's $20 billion fund for Gulf Coa...

China probes ConocoPhillips over oil spill

2011-07-05T13:30:29Z

China said Tuesday it was investigating US oil giant ConocoPhillips' role in a spill off its eastern coast that authorities kept hidden from the public for nearly a month.

ConocoPhillips's China unit in a partnership with the state-owned China National Off...

Gulf Oil Spill Scouring The Sands

2011-01-03T13:31:49Z

In this Dec. 16, 2010 photo, a worker watches a sifting machine, center, separate sand impacted by the BP PLC oil spill from tar balls and other debris on a beach in Grand Isle, La. Crews have been scouring the Gulf Coast's sandy shores for oil_digging, scraping, tilling and sifting beach after beach in their hunt. There is still an untold amount of oil in the form of gooey, largely non-toxic tar, lyi...

Gulf Oil Spill BPs Costs

2010-12-29T04:31:34Z

FILE - In this Nov. 2, 2010 file photo, BP PLC Chief Executive Bob Dudley speaks at a news conference at their headquarters in London. As the Gulf oil spill gushed out of control this summer, BP's financial liabilities expanded so rapidly that experts wondered if the company had drilled its last well. Only months later, though, the Britis...

Gulf Oil Spill Glum Christmas

2010-12-23T13:30:48Z

In this Dec. 21, 2010 photo, Jennifer Reddick, center, keeps an eye on children as they play outside of a community center at St. Patrick Catholic Church in Port Sulphur, La. Reddick was just getting by even before the BP PLC oil spill, living paycheck to paycheck as she tried to support six children on the $400 a week she made workin...

People Costner Lawsuit

2010-12-23T11:31:57Z

FILE - In this Feb. 3, 2009 file photo, actor Stephen Baldwin arrives at the premiere of "The Pink Panther 2" at the Ziegfeld Theatre. Baldwin is suing Kevin Costner over their investments in a device that BP...