LONDON, Nov 24 (Reuters) - Oil major Royal Dutch Shell was handed a 22,500 pound ($33,919) fine by a localScottish court on Tuesday for a 2011 oil spill in the North Seathat was the largest in more than a decade.
A subsea pipeline leak from Shell's Gannet Alpha fieldspilled more than 200 tonnes of oil into the central North Seain August 2011. Aberdeen Sheriff Court imposed the fine afterShell pleaded guilty in the case.
The oil major has accepted the charge and said it had sincecarried out a review of its North Sea pipeline system and hadapplied lessons learned across its British operations.
"We deeply regret the Gannet spill and accept the fine whichhas been handed down to us. We know that no spill isacceptable," said Shell's Upstream Director for the UK andIreland, Paul Goodfellow, in a statement.
Environmental campaigners said the fine was too smallconsidering Shell's failings to protect the marine environment.
"Despite being responsible for the worst North Sea spill ina decade, the level of the fine is literally a drop in the oceanwhen compared to the billions earned by Shell annually," saidLang Banks, director at WWF Scotland.($1 = 0.6633 pounds) (Reporting by Karolin Schaps; Editing by David Holmes)
