Maersk Oil reported to police over maritime pollution

Miljøstyrelsen contends that the oil and shipping giant has breached maritime environment law

Maersk Oil has been reported to the police by the environmental authority, Miljøstyrelsen, for continuously breaching the maritime environmental law in connection with its North Sea oil production.

According to Miljøstyrelsen, Maersk Oil has released the so-called red chemicals into the North Sea in connection with its oil business.

“It’s a complicated case and we have no precedence to compare it to,” said Inger Bergmann, a spokesperson for Miljøstyrelsen.

“But we evaluate that the case can be so serious that it should be looked into by the police, so we will launch a report.”

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Red means stop
The chemicals used during oil drilling are listed via a kind of traffic-light system (green, yellow, red and black), in which the black chemicals are deemed the most hazardous to the environment.

Miljøstyrelsen decided to report Maersk Oil to the police after receiving an explanation from the oil company regarding two instances of released red chemicals.

“Based on the information in the explanations, we have found grounds to report Maersk Oil so Miljøstyrelsen has transferred the case to the police,” said Bergmann.




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