By Rob Davies
PUBLISHED: 22:30, 17 September 2012 | UPDATED: 22:30, 17 September 2012
A faulty piece of safety kit has forced Shell to postpone its controversial Arctic drilling programme just days before MPs were due to criticise its ability to respond to an oil spill in the region.
Shell said its ‘containment cap’ – a dome-shaped device that would collect oil and funnel it to a nearby ship in the event of a spill – had been damaged and will not be ready this year.
It comes at a bad time for Shell, as MPs prepare to release a report on whether British oil firms would be able to respond to a major spill in the Arctic. The first volume of the report, published on Thursday, is expected to conclude that companies such as Shell and fellow Arctic explorer Cairn Energy are not fully prepared for a disaster.