§ Mr. DunnTo ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will make a statement on the overspill surveillance flights carried out on behalf of his Department. [18139]
§ Mr. PageFor the month of January 1997, no oil at all was detected by the surveillance aircraft employed by the DTI. Two hundred and eighty-four installations were surveyed during this time with aircraft and equipment capable of detecting, by day or by night, spills as small as a few litres. These results are confirmation of the offshore industry's continued good environmental performance.
The total amount of oil from positive detections in 1996 from 3,336 overflights was 5.67 tonnes. This is to be compared with natural seepage into the North sea of 1,000 tonnes each year and discharges from rivers amounting to about 30,000 tonnes.