Subsea leak forces closure of pipeline: [1 Edition]

Abstract

Scotland's only inshore oilfield has been shut down after a leak was found in the pipeline that carries its supplies to the shore.

Yesterday green campaigner Lang Banks, of Friends of the Earth Scotland, said: "I can hardly believe that this is the only pipeline in the North Sea which is no longer up to its task. These steel pipes on the seabed are mostly 20 or more years old and are coming towards the end of the their designed lifetime.

Talisman's John MacDonald accepts that the pipeline is quite old and says that the problem is probably due to wear and tear.