LONDON: Deliveries of crude oil through the Forties pipeline in the North Sea are under force majeure for the first time in decades and operator INEOS said on Thursday there was no timeline yet for repair work that could last several weeks.
The 169-km long pipeline, which carries around a quarter of all North Sea crude output and around a third of Britain’s total offshore gas production, has been closed since Monday, following the discovery of a small crack in part of the system onshore in Scotland.
According to Reuters news archives, this is the first declaration of force majeure on shipments of a North Sea crude in many years.
Force majeure, which suspends a company’s contractual obligations in the wake of situations that lie beyond its control, is extremely rare in the North Sea.
Oil traders said this was the first declaration of force majeure on North Sea crude shipments in more than 20 years.
The last major incident which led to a declaration of force majeure took place after the 1988 Piper Alpha disaster, in which 167 men died after a gas explosion on an oil platform.
A spokesman for privately-owned INEOS, which runs the 200,000-barrel per day Grangemouth refinery in Scotland, said the company continued to assess the situation.
“The pipeline has been in place since 1975 and has been operating since then,” INEOS spokesman Richard Longden said.
“It is a unique instance. It just happens to have been on INEOS’ watch, shortly after we acquired it.”
INEOS bought the system from BP in late October for $250 million.
The 169-km long pipeline, which carries around a quarter of all North Sea crude output and around a third of Britain’s total offshore gas production, has been closed since Monday, following the discovery of a small crack in part of the system onshore in Scotland.
According to Reuters news archives, this is the first declaration of force majeure on shipments of a North Sea crude in many years.
Force majeure, which suspends a company’s contractual obligations in the wake of situations that lie beyond its control, is extremely rare in the North Sea.
Oil traders said this was the first declaration of force majeure on North Sea crude shipments in more than 20 years.
The last major incident which led to a declaration of force majeure took place after the 1988 Piper Alpha disaster, in which 167 men died after a gas explosion on an oil platform.
A spokesman for privately-owned INEOS, which runs the 200,000-barrel per day Grangemouth refinery in Scotland, said the company continued to assess the situation.
“The pipeline has been in place since 1975 and has been operating since then,” INEOS spokesman Richard Longden said.
“It is a unique instance. It just happens to have been on INEOS’ watch, shortly after we acquired it.”
INEOS bought the system from BP in late October for $250 million.
