Poole harbour: major incident declared over leak from oilfield

The public is being urged to avoid using the water and beaches within Poole harbour in Dorset, south-west England, after an oil leak caused a major incident to be declared.

Poole Harbour Commissioners (PHC), the harbour regulator, said a leak occurred at a pipeline operated by gas company Perenco, under Owers Bay on Sunday.

The incident, which took place at Wytch Farm oilfield, resulted in approximately 200 barrels of “reservoir fluid” being released from the UK’s largest onshore field.

Perenco said a “small” amount of the fluid – consisting of 85% water and 15% oil – escaped from its pipeline and that, as of late Sunday night, some of it had already been recovered.

“Early indicators are that the surface slick is already dispersing,” PHC said.

The commissioners added that Perenco had reported no risk of further leakage after the pipeline was shut down and booms were placed on either side of the leak to minimise pollution.

A further assessment would be made early on Monday morning regarding the clean-up operation, PHC said.

Pereco said: “Perenco UK’s incident management team was activated immediately, the leak was stopped and booms deployed as an additional containment to protect Poole harbour. Perenco UK is working closely with the relevant authorities and a clean-up operation is under way.”

Franck Dy, Perenco UK’s Wytch Farm general manager, said: “Any spill is an extremely serious matter and a full investigation will be launched to ascertain what happened in Poole harbour.”

Anyone who came into contact with the spill was being urged to “wash immediately with soap and water”.

The area is a haven for wildlife and has been designated a site of special scientific interest.

The UK Health Security Agency South West echoed the swimming advice in response to the leak.

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An Environment Agency spokesperson said: “We have received reports of a large amount of oil in Poole harbour and we are supporting the port authority and other partners in responding to this incident.”

Philip Broadhead, the leader of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole council, said “all relevant partner agencies” were working to address the incident. “As leader of the council I will, along with the senior council team, be working to see what implications this leak may have and what action we may need to take.”

“It is of course extremely disappointing to hear of this event, and while there will be a time later for anger and investigation, our focus now must be on ensuring we can mitigate any impacts of this situation.”

PA Media contributed to this report