THE SCOTSMAN: 86 evacuated from North Sea platform after oil leak from tank: “In April Shell was fined a record £900,000 for safety failings on the platform that led to the deaths of two workers.”: Tuesday 9 August 2005

FRANK URQUHART

EIGHTY-SIX workers have been evacuated from a North Sea platform after an oil leak in a storage tank in one of the installation's main legs.

The precautionary evacuation began on Sunday night after the leak was discovered by a technician on Shell's Brent Bravo platform.

A spokesman for Shell confirmed that 86 people had been airlifted, leaving 60 essential staff on board. The workers were flown to the Brent Charlie, Brent Delta and North Cormorant rigs.

The spokesman added: "They are carrying out a controlled shut-down of the platform in order to repair the leak. The indications are that it won't take very long. It is a small leak of oil and no gas is involved. The leak was discovered in a storage cell in one of the utility legs. There has been no leakage of oil into the North Sea."

In April Shell was fined a record £900,000 for safety failings on the platform that led to the deaths of two workers. Shell admitted three charges under the Health and Safety at Work Act relating to the deaths of Keith Moncrieff of Invergowrie, and Sean McCue of Kennoway, Fife, on Brent Bravo on 11 September, 2003. Mr Moncrieff, 45, a mechanical technician and Mr McCue, 22, a trainee technician, were killed by a gas escape.

Three weeks ago Colin Boyd, QC, the Lord Advocate, ordered a fatal accident inquiry into the deaths of the two workers. Mr Boyd's decision to overturn a previous Crown Office decision against a public inquiry was said to be "in the wider public interest".

http://news.scotsman.com/aberdeen.cfm?id=1749572005

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