Husky pleads guilty to causing N.L.'s largest oil spill, faces $2.5M fine

Calgary-based Husky Energy pleaded guilty to three charges Wednesday in St. John's, over five years after it caused the largest oil spill in Newfoundland and Labrador history.

The oil giant faced several federal charges under the Fisheries Act and Migratory Birds Convention Act, as well as charges for breaching Atlantic Accord regulations that have to do with Newfoundland's offshore industry.

Three out of six total charges were withdrawn. The company was convicted of resuming production when it was unsafe to do so and for polluting the habitats of fish and seabirds.

The 2018 spill leaked 250,000 litres of crude into the White Rose oil field, located about 350 kilometres off the Newfoundland coast.

If that much oil were poured into pop bottles, laid end to end, they would stretch from St. John's to Witless Bay, N.L., about 35 kilometres away.

According to a statement of facts read out in provincial court Wednesday, the leak happened after the vessel halted production to weather a severe storm. Operators began to resume work even though pressure from one of the ship's flowlines had dropped.

They continued to pump oil through the line for over an hour before turning off the taps altogether.

An investigation found that a buildup of ice-like solids called hydrates had accrued inside a commonly used flowline connector. The normal procedure for melting those hydrates, a hot oil wash, didn't work to melt them.

That caused the connector to break free from the flowline, spilling the oil.

The crude dispersed into the water before the company could clean it up. At least six birds died and several more were successfully rehabilitated. 

A third-party report from experts in Norway determined that Husky shouldn't have resumed production due to the low pressure readings from the flowline. But the report noted the company undertook "significant effort" to strengthen spill mitigation protocols and upgrade its equipment in the wake of the accident.

A joint submission from Husky and Crown prosecutors is asking for a sentence that would cost the oil producer $2.5 million in fines and fees, to be paid to a national environmental damages fund.

A judge will decide on that sentence in April.

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