Shell Halts Production At Its Brent Charlie Platform In UK North Sea

Published: 07-Oct-2009

Royal Dutch Shell plc (Shell) has stopped production from its Brent Charlie platform for an unknown period after a gas problem in one of its legs, the Press and Journal reported. The platform, which normally handles around 26,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day, needs to undergo repairs. Shell has obtained a prohibition notice from the Health and Safety Executive in connection with the system, which is not removing gas as designed.

A Shell spokesman said that the work needed on a heating, ventilation and air-conditioning system was unplanned and will take some weeks.

The spokesman added: “To comply with the notice and to undertake the necessary repairs, the platform’s production will be reduced.”

He said the installation could not be closed completely as its generators ran off gas produced from the North Sea.

The spokesman said no date had been decided yet on when the repair work will start. Discussions are continuing with the Health and Safety Executive. Brent Charlie normally has 151 people on board at any time, but Shell said there were no plans to decrease the number as there was no threat to them.

Jake Molloy, regional organiser for the RMT union in Aberdeen, said: “It is encouraging to see the HSE take this level of enforcement.

“It sends out all the right messages to the workforce as to how the HSE will react to failures of this nature.”

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