Shell to decommission field which gave Brent crude its name
Baku, February 9, AZERTAC
Shell has begun public consultations on decommissioning the Brent oil and gas field, one of the largest in the North Sea, the company said in a press release on Wednesday, according to TASS.
Before the start of consultations the company submitted a comprehensive decommissioning program to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).
According to the press release, the program recommends "that the upper steel jacket on the Brent Alpha platform is removed, along with the topsides of the four Brent platforms, debris lying on the seabed, and the attic oil contained within the concrete storage cells of the gravity base structures."
"The program will also recommend that the three gravity base structures, Brent Alpha footings, the sediment contained within the concrete storage cells of the gravity base structures (Brent Bravo, Brent Charlie and Brent Delta), and the drill cuttings piles remain in place," the company said.
Brent field is located 115 miles north-east of the Shetland Islands.
Since 1976, the field has produced around three billion barrels of oil equivalent, which is almost 10% of UK production.
In particular, production from Brent Delta platform ceased in 2011 and from Brent Alpha and Brent Bravo in November 2014. However, production from Brent Charlie platform will continue for several years to come, the company said.
More than 300 expert studies have been completed and the results analyzed and verified by a group of independent scientists.
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