Shell waiting on regulator to approve next stage of Brent decom plan

The boss of Shell (LON: SHEL) has given an update on the supermajor’s plans for decommissioning the iconic Brent Charlie platform.

Proposals for the next stage of removing the structure and shutting down the field are currently with the government awaiting approval, company chief executive Wael Sawan told journalists on Thursday.

As such any timelines for the formal closure of Brent are not currently in the company’s hands, he added, as it waits for the go ahead from regulator OPRED.

The UK Government has approved plans to remove the topsides of the Charlie – which are not expected to take place this year.

However the firm is awaiting news on whether the platform’s legs (and those of Bravo and Delta), a subject of contention with the European body OSPAR to protect the seabed, will be approved.

Shell seeks to leave the legs of the Bravo, Charlie and Delta in place, though the UK regulator recently told OSPAR countries it would not do so.

© Shell

Mr Sawan did confirm it is “the end of an era” though, echoing comments made this week by a senior figure in Shell’s decom team.

Brent Charlie is the sole remaining structure on the legendary field, from which the Brent crude benchmark takes its name.

Over the years the Brent Alpha, Bravo and Delta have all been removed and brought ashore by Allseas’ Pioneering Spirit vessel for scrapping.

With production from the field, which has yielded over 3 billion barrels of oil, having ceased in 2021, the clock is now ticking for the Brent Charlie too, and it will soon leave the Northern North Sea, its home for over 40 years.

© Shell

Mr Sawan said: “On the Brent Charlie it is indeed the end of an era, and credit to the team in the UK and in our facilities that has so far safely decommissioned the majority of the asset base.

“Brent Charlie is awaiting approval of the decommissioning programme – hopefully that will come soon. Once we get that approval, we will be able to move; it’s not in our hands, it’s in the hands of the regulator. That is what will determine the timeline.”

The end of a giant

In 2021, to mark the end of oil and gas flows from Brent, Shell released a short film documenting the life and times of the field.

It captured the final days of production on the Brent Charlie platform and detailed how the asset came to the UK’s rescue, coming as it did in the wake of a major energy crisis in the 1970s.

A host of well-known industry faces make an appearance in the documentary including Aberdeen oil and gas tycoon Sir Ian Wood and former chief executive of Offshore Energies UK, Deirdre Michie.