Shell UK E&P is holding a decommissioning networking lunch focused on the Brent Project on 15 April, Hardwick Hall Hotel, North East England.

The event will feature a presentation from Austin Hand, general manager decommissioning & restoration, Shell U.K Exploration & Production, who will give and update on the project.

Decommissioning of the Brent field (50/50 Shell/ExxonMobil) is one of the largest decommissioning projects in the North Sea with the scope comprising four platform topsides, three concrete substructures referred to as GBSs, one steel jacket, 154 wells tom plug and abandon and some 36 pipelines to decommission.

Three platforms are still in production; the fourth, Brent Delta has now ceased production. Work is underway to engineer down, in readiness for topsides removals of Brent Delta in 2016.

The project is  planning to submit a single field wide decommissioning programme to the UK regulator DECC  during 2014. 

While companies continue to invest heavily in the North Sea  other mature assets are reaching the end of Field Life.  Over the next 20 years or so more than £30 billion pound will be spent on Decommissioning in the North Sea.