Since reports emerged of an oil spill off the coast of the Vale of Clwyd Constituency earlier this week, local MP Dr James Davies has been liaising with the Wales Office, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, ENI UK Ltd, Natural Resources Wales and the Environment Agency.
A release of oil was reported on Monday 14th February from a pipeline between the Conwy installation and the Douglas installation, approximately 33km from North Wales Coast. The pipeline concerned is owned and operated by ENI UK Ltd and has been successfully shut off. There is an investigation ongoing offshore to understand the cause of the leak.
James said:
"As soon as the leak was detected, an incident management team was mobilised to understand the situation and minimise any impact on the environment. This team includes specialist international spill contractors 'Oil Spill Response Ltd' (OSRL) and Ambipar Response.
"A calculation to determine the likely volume of the spill was completed and modelling carried out which predicted that any oil residue reaching land would be expected to beach in Lancashire, not North Wales.
"Since Wednesday 16th February a number of small tar balls have washed up on a section of the Blackpool coast, which were cleaned up rapidly.
"On Thursday afternoon, reports of dark streaks in the sand at Prestatyn were inspected by both ENI and Natural Resources Wales (NRW) and confirmed to be naturally occurring mineral material frequently observed on this stretch of coastline, not oil.
"OSRL and ENI are continuing to monitor the coast line with regular beach patrols and aerial surveillance, including patrols from first light on Saturday morning following Storm Eunice, repeated on Sunday, with no oil identified.
"The Maritime and Coastguard Agency's Counter Pollution and Salvage team, together with the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS)'s Offshore Petroleum Regulator for Environment and Decommissioning (OPRED) team, and the Secretary of State’s Representative for Maritime Salvage and Intervention, have been monitoring the response of ENI UK and assisting partner local authorities throughout this week. Emergency Response Capabilities and Operations (ERCO) have been informed."
James added:
"The small oil deposits identified in the Blackpool area are presenting as small, solid tar balls (which look a bit like rabbit droppings). I would encourage the public to report any such appearances on local beaches by lodging a report with NRW's Incident Communications Centre on 03000 65 3000. Where possible, reports should include the date and time of observations, any images, and the exact location and position data (e.g. what3words) so the authorities can compare any duplicate reports.
"Local Authority officers are also actively monitoring the situation and will respond to any further reports.
"ENI advises that they remain vigilant and will continue to monitor the coast line with regular beach patrols and aerial surveillance. Clean up teams are on standby ready to mobilise quickly if and when required.
"In conclusion, there is currently no cause for concern in relation to the oil spill as regards Denbighshire's coastline."
