The figures documenting spills in the North Sea released in the wake of the Elgin platform spillage make disturbing reading.

It is, of course, impossible to expect the work going on in the North Sea to be carried out without mishap. Indeed, it appears that Total acted quickly at Elgin, even if the leak has yet to be plugged.

But the fact that the number of chemical leaks have more than doubled since 2005 does not aid peace of mind. If, as a spokesman for Shell told the Sunday Herald last week, oil companies were learning from every spillage, we should surely expect the total number to be falling rather than rising.

Certainly environmentalists have serious concerns, accusing the oil and gas industry of ''conning'' the public about safety. Such concerns may be predictable. The view put forward in this paper today by the eminent climate change scientist James Hansen that the fossil-fuel industry is by its nature destroying the planet is held by many environmental campaigners. It is not surprising that they point to the rising number of accidents in the North Sea to underline those arguments.

Despite well-founded fears about the effects of the oil industry, there is no prospect of an oil substitute overtaking it worldwide in the foreseeable future. We might wish it were not so but the world is stuck with oil and gas for some time to come. That being the case, the need for measures to significantly cut fossil fuel emissions and make its production as safe as possible should be more keenly felt.

But the predictability of these warnings does not mean they should be ruled out, nor does it mean we should accept what looks dangerously like government complacency on the issue.

The timing of the release of the figures is itself worrying. They have been made public at this time because of pressure in the wake of Elgin. Previously, the year-long gap between reports did not promote transparency and was too long to allow action to be taken when a trend became apparent, so we welcome the move to publish this information each month from now on.

But the figures themselves are worryingly incomplete. Too many incidents have no information on the extent of the problem, which rightly or wrongly gives rise to suspicion. A surprising number of incidents, even some from the beginning of the year, are tagged as being still under review.

Accidents can happen. But the public have the right to be assured that the oil and gas industry is being monitored and regulated efficiently and effectively and to expect that the officially released reports contain enough information for a reasonable analysis of the seriousness of the problems. Otherwise the accusation that the public is being conned begins to look like a justified complaint.