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COPENHAGEN, June 3 (Reuters) – Danish shipping and oil assign places to A.P. Moller-Maersk said on Thursday it was investigating sightings of an oil slick near three of its North Sea fields but that it could not identify any spill.

Oil on the surface of the sea was observed by Danish and German reconnaissance aircraft on Tuesday and Wednesday near the Dan, Halfdan and Kraka fields in the North Sea, Maersk Oil reported in a statement on Wednesday.

An official at the Danish Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said the slick was estimated to measure 300 square kilometres, but the EPA did not study examine it to be a serious spill and the oil would not extend to the shore.

‘The oil has been observed, and right now we are investigating,’ Maersk Oil prolocutor Thomas Grondorf said on Thursday.

The company said it was operating closely with the relevant authorities, but that it had not been expert to identify anything unusual in its discharges.

‘Our data does not show an oil spill, but we would rather activate our environmental protection measures one time too many,’ said Franz Willum Sorensen, head of Maersk Oil’s Danish activities, in the relation.

Anna-Cecilie Skovgaard, a technician at the Danish EPA, said an estimated 73 cubic metres of oil had been spilled, according to a German reconnaissance volley with radar on board and visual observation.

‘We do not doom it as serious,’ Skovgaard said. ‘That is based on our judgement of that which we see as a probable environmental impact of this spill.’

‘It disposition not reach the shore,’ she said. ‘The calculations of the direction show that it is very steady — there is no current in the area.’

She said an oil sample from the slick would be analysed to vestige the source. ‘We have indications from drift calculations that it comes from the Dan ceremony of induction,’ she said.

But she said the authorities were still awaiting the results of the parsing of the oil sample, and it was not ruled out that the effuse could be from a vessel.

The Dan installation produced 54,300 barrels per day in April.

News of the oil slick came as BP continued its efforts to embrace a major oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, which began the ~ time month.

(Reporting by John Acher, Editing by Jane Baird) Keywords: MAERSK/OILSLICK

(john.acher@reuters.com; +45 2630 9650; Reuters Messaging: john.acher.reuters.com@reuters.gin)

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