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Hydrocarbon releases rise in UK offshore industry B ritain's oil and gas industry has been told to 'up its game' on safety after statistics for 2009/10 show that the number of gas releases on offshore installations has risen by more than a third in the past year.
The number of 'major and significant' releases of hydrocarbons -gas and oil -from North Sea platforms operating in British waters has increased from 61 to 85 in the past 12 months, taking the total to its highest level since 2003.
According to the statistics, 443 dangerous occurrences were reported -34 fewer than in 2008/09. The main types reported were hydrocarbon releases (42%), failure of equipment offshore (23%), well-related incidents (6%) and failures relating to lifting operations (9%).
Steve Walker, who is head of the UK Health and Safety Executive's (HSE) offshore division said: 'I am particularly disappointed and concerned that major and significant hydrocarbon releases are up by more than a third on last year.' 'This is a key indicator of how well the offshore industry is managing its major accident potential, and it really must up its game to identify and rectify the root causes of such events -the figures should act as a renewed wake-up call to the oil majors to set their house in order.'
Eleven months ago Walker warned a major energy conference that it would only take an inadequate pipe repair to lead to a catastrophe on the scale of the 1988 Piper Alpha disaster.
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