STAVANGER, Norway, Nov. 19 (UPI) -- Norwegian energy company Statoil said Tuesday it agreed to pay a $1.6 million fine for sending waste water though an offshore oil pipeline by mistake in 2011.
Statoil said about 6,300 cubic feet of so-called wash water -- categorized as hazardous waste -- was sent through an oil pipeline from its Oseberg C platform in the North Sea to the onshore Sture terminal by mistake.
"This was a highly regrettable incident that should not have occurred," Terje Gunnar Hauge, Statoil's director of Oseberg operations, said in a statement Tuesday. "We fortunately have no indications that this has resulted in local pollution at Sture."
Statoil said it agreed to pay the $1.6 million penalty imposed by federal authorities. The company said it had new reporting procedures and preventative measures in place to prevent incidents like it from happening again.
Statoil started production in the Oseberg reserve field in the North Sea in 1988. It says about 25,000 barrels of oil are produced from the field per day.
