Oil leak discovered in North Sea

Production at the Maersk facility has been shut down

A floating production installation in the North Sea has been shut down after an oil spill was detected nearby, BBC Scotland can reveal.

The Janice A, operated by Maersk, lies 156 miles off Aberdeen.

The oil spill was detected on Wednesday morning in what the company described as "the vicinity" of the floating unit.

A spokeswoman for Maersk said less than two tonnes of oil was released. Production at the installation and subsea operations have been shut down.

A spotter plane flew over the facility to assess the leak.

The company said it was confident that, with current weather conditions, the oil would disperse naturally.

'Small scale'

It added that there were no plans to evacuate any of the 93 staff onboard.

A spokesman for the Department for Business and Enterprise said: "As soon as the leak was discovered production was shut down so the leak could not continue.

"There is no anticipated environmental impact as it was a small scale leak.

"The oil disperses in the sea."

The Health and Safety Executive said it may also launch an investigation once it had more information.

Maersk was due to send a submersible vessel down to assess the damage.

Meanwhile, in a separate incident at the same installation, a hydrocarbon gas release was discovered on Monday.

That is currently being investigated by two inspectors from the Health and Safety Executive who were on a planned visit to the facility.

The HSE said the release was thought to be from a flare system.