An oil spill in the North Sea's Osprey field was confirmed by the UK's Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) over the weekend.
The spill, reported on Friday by Fairfield Energy, was discovered when a hydrocarbon sheen was seen in the vicinity of the Osprey subsea manifold which feeds back to the Dunlin Alpha installation on Tuesday last week. The installation is located around 120 miles northeast of the Shetland Islands.
Fairfield said that two on-line wells at the Osprey have been closed in response to the spill. The firm and its partners are making efforts to identify the source of the oil, and a specialist vessel with a remotely-operated vehicle onboard is being mobilized to the location of the spill. An ongoing series of aerial observations is also taking place.
Fairfield estimates that up to 8.7 tons of oil has been released into the sea.
DECC said that all relevant authorities have been notified, while it continues to monitor the incident.
A former engineer, Jon is an award-winning editor who has covered the technology, engineering and energy sectors since the mid-1990s. Email Jon at jmainwaring@rigzone.com.
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