North Sea oil leak shows need for public ownership

The Alpha Gannet oil leaks have been the UK’s worst oil spillage in a decade. The leak began 112 miles east of Aberdeen, on the 10th August after a routine helicopter flight over the North Sea spotted a large “sheen” on the surface. Despite Shell, the owners of the oil platform knowing there was a leak, no information was made publicly available for two days, until the oil spill covered a 20 mile by three mile area in the North Sea.

At this point the company released a statement stating they had sealed the leak; this was clearly untrue. Several days later it was established there were two leaks. The oil leaks have now been stopped after a faulty relief valve has been closed but it took 10 days to plug the leaking pipeline and has left many questions unanswered.

It is estimated 220 tonnes of oil spilled in the North Sea and there is still the further problem of how to deal with another 660 tonnes still contained within the plugged up pipeline.

Questions have been raised as to why it took so long for any information to be made public, alongside calls for greater transparency, from environmental groups, as well as, Richard Lochhead, the Scottish Environmental Secretary.

Feeling this pressure, the Westminster Government have now launched an investigation into what happened, in an attempt to prevent another similarly devastating situation occurring again. It is unlikely that this investigation will go far enough in its conclusions.

Shell has one of the worst safety records of the major oil companies operating in the UK. A Sunday Herald investigation showed that in the last six years Shell has been officially reproached for breaking safety rules 25 times.

The information gathered by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) show these include four prosecutions for explosions, collisions and accidents, in one case causing a fatality and over £1 million in fines and legal costs. Shell have also faced a number of formal reprimands. These safety breaches include repeatedly failing to properly maintain pipelines and other vital equipment in the North Sea, failing to report a dangerous incident and not protecting workers from hazardous materials. This shows that the current regulatory regime is not working.

The idea of fining companies for breaches of safety rules is meant to act as a deterrent, to ensure compliance but in practice this does not happen. Just last month, Shell announced it’s profits had doubled in the first half of this year (on the back of rising energy costs for consumers) to £5bn! So fines of £1 million over the last few years are (very) small change to such a multinational company.

Currently it is much more profitable for companies like Shell to spend less on fully adhering to safety regulations and to pay the odd fine now and again. The poor track safety record of Shell and other major oil companies has lead to calls to changes to the regulatory system particular as the number of oil and gas spills in the last few years has increased as well as the number of major injuries to offshore workers, which has jumped 77% in the last year.

However, greater and more robust legislation regulating the offshore industries will not alone prevent future environmental disasters. Private companies have the sole purpose of making (and trying to increase) profit.

They will always put this before the environment and before the lives of their workers. With oil and gas running out rapidly, the need for massive research and development into alternative energy sources is paramount.

This research is not taking place quickly enough as there is no money to be made in the short term, so the private sector will not invest. The production of energy is too important to be left to the current unorganised system based on profit not safety or the needs of society.

All oil, gas and other energy companies should be brought into democratic public ownership and control, and profits used to fund the development of the alternative energy sources our world so desperately needs.