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Hibernia fined $400K for 2019 oil spill off N.L. | CBC News

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A panoramic photo of the Altantic Ocean through a plane window. A noticeable dark sheen of oil sits on top of the water.
Oil sheen on the surface of the water as seen by a Canadian Coast Guard fly-over on July 17, 2019. Hibernia has been fined $400,000 for the spill. (Canada-Newfoundland & Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board)

The Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board (C-NLOPB) announced Wednesday that Hiberia will pay $400,000 in fines as the result of a 2019 oil spill on the Hibernia platform.

The spill happened on July 17, 2019, when approximately 12,000 litres of crude oil mixed with water was released from the platform into the Atlantic Ocean. Hibernia Management and Development Company Ltd. said at the time the discharge was likely caused by a sensor issue and called it an isolated incident.

Hibernia faced three charges from the C-NLOPB under the Canada-Newfoundland Atlantic Accord Implementation Act.

The C-NLOPB completed a thorough investigation of the spill, which found Hibernia didn’t ensure work that was likely to cause pollution was stopped immediately. An agreed statement of fact said the discharge was reported to the C-NLOPB at 10:38 a.m. on July 17, but the platform remained in production until 5:13 p.m. that evening.

The investigation also found Hibernia failed to manage the associated risk for an identified hazard and also charged the corporation for the spill itself.

Hibernia was ordered to pay $310,000 into the C-NLOPB’s environmental damages fund, along with a $90,000 fine imposed by the Accord Implementation Act.

The corporation was also fined $28,000 by the C-NLOPB in 2022 in relation to a separate spill in August 2019. That spill released an estimated 2,200 litres of oil into the Atlantic Ocean.

Read more from CBC Newfoundland and Labrador

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