Britain's worst oil spill for over a decade appeared to be entering its final stages, as the leak from Royal Dutch Shell's faulty North Sea pipeline slowed to a trickle.

Cairn Energy expects to find out later on Wednesday whether a lawsuit designed to deter environmental protesters from disrupting its Arctic drilling campaign has been successful.

Cairn, a British oil and gas firm which is leading a charge to find oil off the coast of Greenland, faces strong opposition from environmental group Greenpeace whose protesters have boarded its drilling vessel twice in