Warning failure to maintain North Sea pipe 'could cause explosion'

Regulators have warned that failures to maintain a North Sea pipeline could result in a gas leak potentially capable of causing a fire and an explosion on an offshore platform.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has issued improvement notices to oil and gas companies Wood Group and Apache.

The watchdog said sections of the pipe were "degraded" by corrosion and a failure could result in a "significant, sustained and uncontrolled release" of extremely flammable gas on the Beryl Alpha platform.

Both companies said they were taking action to address the issues raised by HSE.

The pipe is linked to the Scottish Area Gas Evacuation (Sage) gas pipeline that connects dozens of North Sea fields to an onshore gas terminal at St Fergus in Aberdeenshire.

In an improvement notice served to Wood Group, HSE said the failure to make sure two valves were in working order could lead to the loss of gas from the Sage pipeline.

The regulator said this would pose a substantial risk to the platform and its personnel due to the hazardous properties of the dangerous fluid in the system.

A Wood Group spokesperson said: "We are committed to ensuring that all our work sites meet the required standards for safe operations."

"We are working closely and transparently with the HSE, our client and the asset operator, and are taking appropriate action to address the concerns raised."

Apache has confirmed that it received an improvement notice on 20 March.

A spokesperson said: "The safety of our people, the integrity of our assets, and disciplined maintenance practices are our top priorities.

"We are working in close collaboration with the Sage pipeline operator to develop a robust technical solution to address the issue."