EnQuest plc and Spirit Energy Ltd are two of three operators fined a total £265,000 for breaches in operations by the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA).
PENALTIES
EnQuest was sanctioned and fined £150,000 for flaring an excess 262 tonnes of gas on the Magnus field between 30 November and 1 December 2021 “despite knowing that it did not have the necessary consent in place”, said the NSTA in a statement.
Spirit was fined £50,000 for exceeding the maximum allowed production volumes from two fields over three years.
The company’s mechanisms and management oversight were not sufficient to prevent the failure to comply with the licence conditions for the Rhyl field between 2018-20 and the Ceres field between 2019-20, added the NSTA.
“Producing too much oil and gas can reduce the overall long-term production from a reservoir, to the detriment of the UK’s security of supply, so it is vital that when an operator wants to raise production it applies for a new consent so that its new plan can be assessed.”
The third company Equinor was sanctioned and fined £65,000 for flaring at least 348 tonnes of CO2 above the amount permitted on the Barnacle field between June and November 2020.
The exceedance of the flare consent on Barnacle did not result in an overall increase of CO2 emissions from Statfjord B; the breach of the consent was in essence an administrative breach, said the NSTA.
“EnQuest, Equinor and Spirit all co-operated fully with the NSTA’s investigations, conducted their own internal reviews and have taken steps to avoid repeats of these breaches,” added the regulator.
GUIDANCE
The NSTA’s flaring and venting guidance aims to eliminate unnecessary or wasteful flaring and venting of gas.
Last year, flaring on the UK Continental Shelf was at a record low, having been cut by 20% to 25.8 billion cubic feet of gas, a reduction equivalent to the annual gas demand of 130,000 UK homes.
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