ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates, March 7 (UPI) -- The Abu Dhabi National Energy Co. said Thursday it started restoring the flow of oil through the Brent pipeline system following a weekend shutdown.
The company, known also as Taqa, closed the pipeline system last weekend after discovering an oil release from the base of its Cormorant Alpha platform in the North Sea.
"Investigations have found there is no connection between the Brent pipeline system and the pipeline involved in the release," Taqa said. "The process of restarting Brent throughput follows a thorough technical evaluation that shows it is safe to do so without any increased risk to Cormorant Alpha."
The pipeline system delivers oil from about two dozen oil fields in the North Sea to a processing terminal in Scotland. Taqa said Thursday it was in the process if restarting the flow of roughly 80,000 barrels of oil per day through the Brent pipeline system.
The Cormorant Alpha platform is about 110 miles offshore. The March 2 incident was the second this year, though no injuries or major spill volumes were reported.
