Oil firm fined £400,000 over offshore gas leak

The incident happened on the Beryl Alpha in 2014

An oil firm has been fined £400,000 following a North Sea gas leak seven years ago.

It is estimated more than 1,000kg (2,200lbs) of flammable gas was released during the incident on the Beryl Alpha off Shetland in June 2014.

Apache Beryl admitted breaching safety regulations at Aberdeen Sheriff Court during the depressurisation of a well.

Prosecutors said workers were exposed to a risk of serious injury or death if the gas had ignited.

There were 134 people on board the Beryl Alpha at the time.

The company took action after the incident aimed at preventing it happening again.

'Potentially catastrophic'

The fine was reduced from £600,000 due to the guilty plea.

Apache Beryl said after the case it was "committed to the safety of all personnel".

The company said in a statement: "The actions of the Beryl Alpha team immediately following the start of this 2014 event and the emergency response measures in place worked effectively. There were no injuries, and the incident did not escalate.

"Apache implemented improvements that are key for maintaining process safety."

Alistair Duncan, head of the Health and Safety Investigation Unit at the Crown Office, said: "Hopefully this prosecution will serve as a reminder that failing to have sufficiently robust procedures can have potentially serious consequences."

HSE principal inspector Dave Walker said: "Although the offshore industry has managed to reduce its overall number of hydrocarbon releases, it is still the case that in most years there are several, which are of such a size that if ignited would result in potentially catastrophic consequences."

He said the Beryl Alpha release was the largest reported to the HSE in 2014.