Four hundred gallons of refinery vacuum gas oil leaked into Southampton Water in Hampshire, a protected area and the playground of the sailing fraternity in the south of England. Esso pleaded guilty and was fined £10,000. The incident, which happened on the 20th June 2010, was the result of a faulty pipe allowing two cubic meters of oil to leak into the Southampton waters. The area is highly sensitive in environmental terms, and although Esso implemented pollution contamination measures some of the oil escaped leading to the shell fisheries being closed as a precaution. There were no reports of fish deaths or oiled seabirds, however as this is not the first incident involving similar spills from Esso magistrates presiding over the case felt the company were not maintaining the pipe work to the agreed standards. Esso have since carried out a full inspection of the pipe work following instruction from the Environment Agency and have reportedly spent a further £150,000 on the cleanup of the pollution in the area.
