Oil and gas leak causes further embarrassment for BP

BP has come under fire again after an oil leak at a North Sea platform last year. This comes after BP said it had overhauled safety procedures following the massive oil leak and fire that occurred at its Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico in April 2010.

Around 125 barrels of oil and 1,600 kg of gas leaked at the Ula platform, located in the Norwegian North Sea. The leak occurred in September of last year and halted production for 67 days. The leak was caused by bolts holding a valve together becoming damaged due to corrosion. The company was rebuked by the Norwegian oil and gas safety authority after the leak.

An investigation was launched by the Petroleum Safety Authority Norway (PSA), which has lasted seven months. The PSA said that it found several failings in terms of BP's maintenance systems, as well as their management systems. BP was ordered to review its procedures.

BP said that it had reviewed its safety procedures and maintenance systems throughout rigs that had ageing infrastructures, after a fire occurred at another North Sea platform in 2011. However - according to the PSA - there were still issues with the maintenance systems at the Ula platform.

The PSA said that even though no one was injured and no fatalities occurred, "the incident had the potential to become a major accident, with the risk that a number of lives might have been lost and substantial material damage caused".

The PSA found that the leak at the Ula platform was caused when bolts in a valve were exposed to water that contained a high level of chlorides and was at a temperature of around 120 degrees C. This caused the bolts to weaken due to stress corrosion cracking, eventually making them break.

BP said the company had "received the PSA's investigation report following the hydrocarbon leakage on Ula last year. The findings closely match BP's own investigation and work has already started to address the issues raised."