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Oil Spill

Shell Says Oil From Bonga Facility Leak ‘Continues to Thin’

By Mike Harrison – Dec 24, 2011 7:56 AM GMT

Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) said oil that leaked from its 200,000 barrel-a-day Bonga field in Nigeria “continues to thin.”

“Surveillance and aerial photos show the spill is breaking up into patches surrounded by clear water,” Shell said in a statement on its website. “The spill remains offshore. We continue to monitor its movement using satellite imagery and vessels in the zone.”

Bonga, located 75 miles off Nigeria’s coastline, pumps about 10 percent of the West African nation’s oil. read more

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Huge slick from Shell’s 1.68 million gallon Atlantic Ocean oil spill

By Associated Press, Updated: Friday, December 23, 4:20 PM

LAGOS, Nigeria — A faulty pipe from an offshore oil field run by Royal Dutch Shell PLC near Nigeria’s coast spewed crude oil into the ocean for as much as 25 hours as workers loaded a waiting tanker, the company acknowledged Friday.

While Shell continues to investigate the cause of what likely is the worst offshore spill in more than a decade near oil-rich Nigeria, the nation’s beleaguered government remains largely reliant on the oil firm to clean up the spill. While the huge slick remains offshore, it still poses a danger to wildlife and plants in a region where spills already stain the environment. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Shell Confirms Source of Nigerian Oil Leak as Cleanup Continues

By Eduard Gismatullin and Elisha Bala-Gbogbo – Dec 23, 2011 9:13 AM GMT

Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA), Europe’s largest oil company, confirmed the source of what could be Nigeria’s worst offshore spill in more than a decade to a leak in a flexible export line to a tanker.

Cleanup operations continued to the leak in the line between the tanker and production facility, The Hague-based Shell said in an update on its website. The company shut its 200,000 barrel-a-day Bonga offshore field after it leaked less than 40,000 barrels earlier this week. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

When Shell flushed 100,000 tonnes of Forcados crude into the Sea

“After flushing the lot into the sea, it all disappeared within weeks. Not a trace to be seen… It all was possible because there was a military government suppressing the press and life was good for Shell!”

“Old Nigeria Hand” posting on Shell Blog (A trustworthy source)

The Bonga spill obviously is unforgiveable. A relatively young facility should not leak oil. But the disaster as mentioned by many journalists will be minute. It is light oil and most will evaporate and disappear before hitting the beach.

In 1979 there was a spill of another magnitude: the bottom of tank 6 had dropped out in Forcados. There was 1 meter oil in the terminal and Bert Ockeloen, the General Operations Manager flew over it the next day and stated: I may lose my terminal so break the wall and flush it into the sea. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Chevron, Transocean Face Brazil Indictment Over Oil Leak

December 22, 2011, 11:33 AM EST

By Joe Carroll and Juan Pablo Spinetto

Dec. 22 (Bloomberg) — Chevron Corp., the operator of the Brazilian offshore well that triggered oil leaks, and rig owner Transocean Ltd. will defend executives threatened with criminal indictments in the South American nation.

Chevron learned that Brazil’s federal police intend to indict employees involved in the drilling that led to the Nov. 7 leaks from seafloor fissures near the $3.6 billion Frade development, Kurt Glaubitz, a spokesman for the San Ramon, California-based company, said in a statement late yesterday. Transocean, in a separate statement late yesterday, said it will “vigorously defend the company and its collaborators.” read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

News Shell oil spill off Nigeria likely worst in decade

By JON GAMBRELL, Associated Press 22 December 2011

LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — An oil spill near the coast of Nigeria is likely the worst to hit those waters in a decade, a government official said Thursday, as slicks from the Royal Dutch Shell PLC spill approached the country’s southern shoreline.

The slick from Shell’s Bonga field has affected 115 miles (185 kilometers) of ocean near Nigeria’s coast, Peter Idabor, who leads the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency, told The Associated Press. Idabor said officials expect the slick to reach beaches by Thursday afternoon. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Shell Shuts Nigeria’s Bonga Field After Leak During Loading

December 21, 2011, 5:39 AM EST

By Eduard Gismatullin

Dec. 21 (Bloomberg) — Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Europe’s largest oil company, shut its 200,000 barrel-a-day Bonga field off Nigeria after oil leaked during a tanker loading.

An export line from the field’s floating production, storage and offloading vessel was the likely cause of the leak, estimated at less than 40,000 barrels of crude, Shell said in a statement today. The oil flow has been halted.

“We are sorry this leak has happened,” Mutiu Sunmonu, the company’s Nigerian chairman, said in the statement. “It is important to stress that this was not a well-control incident of any sort, and to make clear that no-one has been injured.” read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Lessons of the Deepwater Horizon

A version of this editorial appeared in print on December 19, 2011, on page A28 of the New York edition

The latest investigative report on the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, released Wednesday, is an important reminder of industry’s past carelessness and a summons to vigilance in the future. It could not have been more timely, coming just as the Interior Department was concluding its first auction of new drilling leases in the gulf since the spill.

The report was prepared by the National Academy of Engineering and the National Research Council. It concluded — as had an earlier study by a presidential commission — that the explosion resulted from a series of poor decisions by BP and others, including a major miscalculation involving the ability of the well to withstand sudden increases in pressure. The study criticized both the industry and federal regulators for “misplaced trust” in the ability of blowout preventers to seal off wells in an emergency, and called for industry to redesign these devices to make them more reliable in the future. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Shell uses Internet to show Nigeria oil spill data

By JON GAMBRELL Associated Press, Updated: Wednesday, November 2, 4:13 PM


LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — Royal Dutch Shell PLC long has argued that thieves are to blame for most of the oil spills coming from pipelines in Nigeria’s crude-producing southern delta. Now the company is trying to prove that claim in real time on the Internet.


Shell, the dominant oil company in Nigeria since production began there more than 50 years ago, has started posting photographs and reports on a website from every oil spill investigated by the company this year. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Shell executives see industry benefitting from oil-spill cleanup contest

OIL&GAS JOURNAL

HOUSTON, Oct. 11
By Paula Dittrick
OGJ Senior Staff Writer

The X Prize Foundation, a nonprofit organization, along with philanthropist Wendy Schmidt, presented a $1 million first-place award to Elastec/American Marine Oct. 11 during a ceremony in New York.

Elastec/American Marine of Carmi, Ill., and Cocoa, Fla., achieved more than three times the industry’s previous best oil recovery rate tested in controlled conditions.

The second-place winner, NOFI from Tromso, Norway, won $300,000. Despite schedule delays caused by Hurricane Irene, NOFI reached more than two times the industry’s previous best oil recovery rate. read more

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Shell in Nigeria shuts in 25,000 bpd of oil


26 September 2011

LAGOS — Anglo-Dutch oil group Shell said Monday it has shut in 25,000 barrels per day of crude in a southern Nigerian oil field due to spills caused by sabotage and theft.

“The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Ltd (SPDC) has shut in production from Imo River Field due to a recent upsurge of illegal bunkering and refining activities which have impacted the environment,” the company said in a statement.

“Some 25,000 barrels of oil per day is affected,” Shell said, adding it took the action on August 28 “to starve the illegal bunkerers of crude oil in order to prevent further environmental pollution.” read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Experts damning comment on Shell North Sea Oil Spill

Comment from a Shell North Sea Platform Safety & Maintenance Expert on the current oil spill near the Gannet Alpha Platform

…another example of reactive maintenance regime, i.e. allowing, through neglect, equipment to fail and then reacting to the failure rather than, as the Safety Case for Gannet prescribes, preventing failure in the first instance by application of appropriate maintenance, inspection and monitoring. read more

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Shell fights spill near North Sea oil platform

13 August 2011 Last updated at 03:02

Oil giant Royal Dutch Shell has said it is working to stop a leak at one of its North Sea oil platforms.

The leak was found near the Gannet Alpha platform, 180 km (113 miles) from Aberdeen, Scotland.

The company would not say how much oil may have been spilt so far, though it said it had “stemmed the leak significantly”.

One of the wells at the Gannet oilfield has been closed, but the company would not say if production was reduced.

The company says it has sent a clean-up vessel to the location and has a plane monitoring the surface. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Shell confirms oil leak in North Sea

guardian.co.uk home

Royal Dutch Shell has said it is working to contain an oil leak at its Gannet Alpha platform in the North Sea, but declined to specify the size of the leak.

Shell have confirmed a leak in a pipeline serving one of their North Sea platforms. Photograph: Ben Stansall/AFP/Getty Images

Royal Dutch Shell has said it is working to contain an oil leak at its Gannet Alpha platform in the North Sea, but declined to specify the size of the leak.

“We can confirm we are managing an oil leak in a flow line that serves the Gannet Alpha platform. We deployed a remote-operated vehicle to check for a subsea leak after a light sheen was noticed in the area,” a Shell spokesman said.

“We have stemmed the leak significantly and we are taking further measures to isolate it. The subsea well has been shut in, and the flow line is being depressurised.” read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Shell Fighting Oil Spill At North Sea Platform

AUGUST 12, 2011 12.23 P.M. ET

LONDON (Dow Jones)–Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSB) Friday confirmed that an oil spill has occurred at its Gannet Alpha platform in the U.K. North Sea.

“We can confirm we are managing an oil leak in a flow line that serves the Shell-operated Gannet Alpha platform,” said Shell spokesman Kim Blomley.

“We have stemmed the leak significantly and we are taking further measures to isolate it,” he said. “The subsea well has been shut in, and the flow line is being depressurized. We continue to monitor the situation on the surface and subsea.” read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Can anyone clean up an Arctic oil spill?


Patti Epler: Jul 27, 2011

Environmental groups earlier this week challenged oil companies to prove they can clean up an oil spill in the Arctic. The challenge is all part of a ramped-up public relations and political effort by a coalition of more than a dozen national conservation organizations to pressure the Obama administration into rejecting industry permit applications for work in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas next summer.

So it’s unlikely Shell Oil and the other companies will pick up that particular gantlet — and how would they, really. Short of dumping some oil out there and mopping it up or burning it off how does one prove they can clean up a spill? read more

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