Alistair Hope, Project Director Brent Decommissioning – Options for Brent Decommissioning
[Flyover the Brent Field before focussing on Alistair Hope]
My role is to make sure that the project is done safely, environmentally responsibly and efficiently.
[Zoom in on Alistair Hope then image of field Brent during commissioning – before the top deck of the platform was added to the legs. Two info tags of Brent production are added to these along with some background footage of workers]
In the case of Brent I think we initially thought we'd have a 25 year life.We're now coming up to almost 40 years.
[Focus returns to Alistair Hope]
We've done all sorts of clever things with new technology and new techniques to really maximise the extraction of the oil and gas in the field.
[Tag showing Brent contribution shown before focus returns to Alistair Hope]
Decommissioning is a normal part of the oil and gas lifecycle where we need to remove the facilities and then either reuse them or recycle them in a responsible way.
[Computer Generated Animation map zooms in from sky down towards the North Sea location of the Brent Field then looks at carbon capture and storage options before returning to the map]
We've looked at reuse options. Could the field be used for carbon capture and storage?What works against us there is the field is so far away - 118 miles north-east of Shetland.
[Footage showing windfarms and then the Brent Alpha Field]
We've looked at wind farms as well, and again it's the same sort of issue. You're an awful long way and you'd only get one or two turbines on the Brent structures.You wouldn't have one of these giant wind farms that have been built elsewhere.
[Focus returns to Alistair Hope before looking at rough seas in the Brent Field]
Usually these factors of where it is - very harsh remote location and the fact that the infrastructure's very old - so we really are faced with the decommissioning option.
[An graphic of the four Brent platforms is shown before the focus returns to Alistair. A photo of one of the Brent stakeholder events is shown along with a tag]
The stakeholder engagement involvement that we've had has been terrific. We've got a lot of value out of that, a lot of help, some great ideas, but also understanding just different peoples' perspectives and the issues that concern them.And that's helped us to formulate our plans.
[Focus returns to Alistair and an overview of the Shell website is shown before Alistair closes out the video]
You know, I would encourage anyone who's out there to take your opportunity to raise concerns, issues,or even better so that you're happy with the plans, if you are.So that will make the plan stronger and better.