BCP Green Party has questioned the size of a £6.1million payment linked to the Poole Harbour oil spill.
The payment was agreed between the Environment Agency and oil and gas company Perenco following a pollution incident in March 2023 at Ower Bay involving a pipeline connected to the Wytch Farm oil field.
Around 31600 litres of reservoir fluid, made up of about 15% crude oil and 85% production fluid, leaked into Poole Harbour after a pipe corroded faster than expected.
The financial package includes £2.6million for the initial incident response, £2.4million for clean up work, £620000 paid directly to affected parties and £400000 for wildlife and access projects, along with £115000 for ecological surveys.
Poole Harbour is Europe’s largest natural harbour and is designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest because of its ecological importance.
Councillor Chris Rigby said the payment was “a rounding error of a fine” for the company and questioned whether the amount reflected the scale of the environmental damage.
Perenco has confirmed that measures have been introduced to reduce the risk of a similar pollution incident happening again.
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