Cromarty Rising

Back in 2007, the second biggest oil spill in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea occurred.

A rupture in the loading hose on a loading system on the Statfjord field resulted in around 4,400 m³ of crude oil being discharged in the sea. The direct cause of the rupture of the loading hose was pressure in the loading hose that was higher than what it was designed for. This pressure was caused by an uncontrolled closing of a valve in the loading system on the tanker Navion Britannia. The discharge was only discovered when there was sufficient daylight to observe oil on the sea and it was estimated that oil had discharged directly into the sea for some 45 minutes. There was no equipment installed on the loading hose to detect leaks.

OK, so not tanker to tanker, but still a transfer of oil to a tanker. Not dis-similar to STS. No equipment to identify hose leaks? The work was being undertaken at night so no-one noticed!

The incident report found:

• inadequate management and description of responsibilities,

• inadequate risk comprehension of the loading system as a whole,

• inadequate robustness in the design of the loading system,

• inadequate management of changes,

• inadequate compliance with the maintenance programme,

• inadequate follow-up after a similar incident.

This was a supposedly well run instillation on the North Sea – what chance is there in the Moray Firth with flag of convenience vessels with crews speaking different languages and unknown levels of training. In the above mentioned incident, there was supposedly no environmental damage – the site was in the middle of the North Sea and the slick would disperse through wind and wave action – in the inner Moray Firth it would be very different and would be on our beaches and shoreline in a matter of hours. The CFPA need to ditch this idea now – it shows a level of gross irresponsibility when it comes to protecting the environment and a lack of understanding as to the consequences of their actions.