Shell will soon prepare 10 year program to possibly decommission some of the largest North Sea oil fields. From the FT:
Royal Dutch Shell will on Tuesday set out ambitious plans to decommission the North Sea’s Brent oilfield — one of the UK’s biggest — in a multibillion-dollar project over the next 10 years that could be followed by other closures after the plunge in oil prices.
The Anglo-Dutch energy group will within days begin public consultation on a disposal plan for the “topside” of Brent Delta — one of four platforms in the field that gave its name to the international crude price benchmark. Shell is anxious to avoid a repeat of the public furore 20 years ago over its attempt to dump the Brent Spar oil storage buoy in the Atlantic Ocean.
