Taqa reports new incident in North Sea

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ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates, March 4 (UPI) -- The Abu Dhabi National Energy Co. reported that an oil release from a platform in British waters of the North Sea has been contained.

The company, known also as Taqa, confirmed a hydrocarbon release into the leg of its Cormorant Alpha platform, though the spill was contained without soiling the environment.

The company pulled 71 non-essential personnel, about half the workforce, from the platform and closed the facility down as a precaution Saturday.

"Taqa personnel are addressing the situation on Cormorant Alpha and are working with partners to have the Brent pipeline system operational as soon as possible," the company said in a statement.

Taqa reported a similar incident at the platform in January, though crude oil through the Brent pipeline system tied to the facility was shortly restarted.

"The Cormorant Alpha platform normally handles about 90,000 barrels per day of crude oil feeding the Brent pipeline system, including approximately 10,000 bpd of Cormorant Alpha production," the company said.

There were no injuries reported on the North Sea platform from either incident. No spill volume was indicated.