Inspectors from the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) will carry out an inquiry into the Shell North Sea oil spill, it emerged yesterday, to try to find the cause of the biggest British oil leak in more than a decade.

Shell said today it is working to stop a secondary flow of oil spilling into the North Sea from beneath an offshore platform.

Engineers from Shell were last night still working to halt the biggest oil leak in the North Sea for more than a decade, as conservationists expressed fears for the safety of young seabirds in the affected area.

More than 200 tonnes of oil could have entered the North Sea following a leak at an offshore platform, according to estimates from operator Shell.

A leak has been discovered on a North Sea oil platform owned by Royal Dutch Shell.

The keys to vast reserves of oil off the coast of Alaska may have been handed to Shell this week after President Barack Obama's administration granted it provisional permission to drill exploration wells in the Beaufort Sea's frigid waters despite fierce opposition from environmentalists.

Royal Dutch Shell and the Nigerian government have been blamed for oil spills in the Niger Delta, which could take 30 years to clean up.

Oil pollution in the Niger Delta has gone further than previously thought and a clean-up will take 20 years and cost over $1bn (£614.6m), the UN said.

Oil company Shell could be forced to pay hundreds of millions of dollars after accepting responsibility for two devastating oil spills in Nigeria's Ogoniland region.

Royal Dutch Shell cashed in on rising energy prices yesterday as it reported profits of nearly £5bn between April and the end of June. The second-quarter haul, which comes at a time of continued fuel price misery for British motorists, represented a jump of 77 per cent on a year earlier.

Royal Dutch Shell cashed in on rising energy prices today as it reported profits of nearly £5 billion between April and the end of June.

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