Activists claim that the environment is threatened by North Sea oil spills

Thousands of tonnes of oil have consistently poured into UK rivers from oil and gas projects, harming marine life like porpoises and orcas, according to information provided exclusively to BBC News.

The information shows that the leaks happened over a five-year period, with some of them taking place in areas designated for the protection of animals.

Despite the fact that companies are allowed to spill a modest amount of oil during ordinary operations, 40% of spills that were watched breached licenses.

According to an industry spokesman, every release is treated carefully.

Offshore Energies UK’s Mark Wilson, who speaks for offshore oil producers in UK waters, said that “our industry is focused on driving continuous improvement.”

The oil mass in produced water decreased by 10% according to our most recent data, which covers 2022 and was published in our environment report, he continued.

Energy advocacy organization Uplift obtained the information by making Freedom of Information Act requests to the offshore oil and gas regulator, the Offshore Petroleum Regulator for Environment and Decommissioning.

22,000 metric tonnes, or 164,000 barrels, of oil were discharged into UK seas between 2017 and 2022, according to Uplift’s analysis. In comparison, during the March incident in Poole Harbour, 200 barrels of oil leaked.

According to Uplift, a nonprofit that promotes switching from fossil fuels to green energy, the oil and gas industry releases substantially more oil into the environment than the government deems safe.

“We are now revealing in full for the first time ever the extent of this accumulated contamination to the public. This is what happens when spills keep leaking. Tessa Khan, director of Uplift, claims that there are tar balls and droplets in the water that put creatures in risk by sinking to the ocean floor.

Companies are granted authorizations that authorize discharges, and they are allowed to leak some oil as a byproduct of routine production.

Investigation by Uplift found that 58% of emissions were approved by these legal licenses. The remaining 42% violated the permissions.

Offshore Energies UK estimates that the UK produces up to 40 billion cubic meters of gas and between 40 and 45 million tonnes of oil annually.

A government official stated that offshore pollution incidents were regularly monitored and that it was obvious that businesses shouldn’t be going beyond their licence constraints. If they do, the appropriate action will be taken, including the imposition of fines.

Additionally, Uplift worked with SkyTruth, another non-profit organization that analyzes satellite photos of UK waterways. Images from 2020 to 2022 show a considerable number of oil spills as well.

Some of the identified slicks were 10 km long, and one cumulative slick reached an area of 91 sq km.

The amount of oil released is negligible in comparison to huge disasters like Deepwater Horizon, where more than 125 million gallons of oil escaped. Hugo Tagholm, the director of Oceana, argued otherwise, saying that “oil spills every other day from these routine releases are a huge problem for marine life.”

He said that the eating and mating patterns of many of the species in marine protected zones, including harbour porpoises, deep-sea sponges, and slow-growing cold water corals, are in jeopardy.

The top five companies named by Uplift as having the most oil leaks between 2017 and 2022 are Dana, Repsol Sinopec, CNR, Shell, and Apache.

In response, Dana and Shell pointed BBC News to a statement from Offshore Energies UK. Repsol Sinopec, CNR, and Apache did not respond to inquiries.

Oceana and Uplift claim that whether the leaks are authorized or not, they affect essential habitats that are essential for preserving the health of the oceans and halting climate change.

The UK’s rivers are currently “too noisy, filthy, built-up, and disturbed for our rich marine species to survive,” according to an Oceana-commissioned study of the scientific data on the consequences of oil and gas pollution on those waters.

Many different species, including harbour porpoises, can be found in the oceans off the UK’s coast, which are among the richest and most diversified in the entire world.

Dr. Fiona Gell, a marine ecologist and the report’s author, asserts that “oil and gas activities are a major contributor to the cumulative impacts on harbour porpoise and can potentially lead to their starvation as their food sources are affected and they use energy to avoid disturbances.”

The UK made substantial international commitments to protect the UK and the world’s waters in the UN High Seas Treaty and at an international summit on biodiversity in Montreal in 2022.

These discoveries, according to Mr. Tagholm of Oceana, jeopardize such commitments and threaten the UK’s status as a world leader.

Furthermore, according to Oceana, the findings showed that the government should prohibit the construction of new oil and gas fields.