UK Oil Regulator Fines Chrysaor

UK oil and gas regulator the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) announced in a statement posted on its site this week that Chrysaor has been fined GBP 150,000 ($200,591) for “vent breaches”.

The NSTA noted in its statement that the company exceeded its consent by more than 145 tons and that breaches took place the Armada hub in the central North Sea. The NSTA added in the statement that Chrysaor “failed to identify and then inform the NSTA of the breach for seven months, despite the regulator’s repeated messaging to industry that production needs to become increasingly clean”.  

In its statement, the NSTA highlighted that Chrysaor, which it pointed out was acquired by Harbour Energy in 2021, blamed the breach on high winds preventing it from relighting the flare on the Armada platform. The Armada processing hub serves Hawkins, Fleming, Drake, Maria, and Seymour fields and has a capacity of more than 20,000 barrels per day, the NSTA noted.

“In January 2022 an unplanned shut-in led to one vent event,” the NSTA said in the statement.

“This was followed in August the same year when there was a further event after a start-up from a shutdown; in October high winds caused the flare to extinguish with the operator being unable to relight the flare for three days,” it added.

“And in November, the flare was extinguished due to a depressurization and there was a delay in relighting due to the weather conditions. This venting continued for three days,” it continued.

“In total, Chrysaor vented 370.046 tons at Armada from 1 January 2022 to 31 December 2022, exceeding its consent by 145.566 tons, almost 65 percent. Venting consent was breached in October 2022 and Chrysaor failed to inform the NSTA until May 2023, which indicated that it was unaware of the amount that it had vented,” it went on to state.

The NSTA said in its statement that it has “repeatedly warned licensees that complying with regulatory obligations is vitally important – both to meeting the aim of net zero by 2050 and retaining public confidence in the industry”.

“Safety is always the first priority. It is vital that once a situation is made safe, operators must return to regulatory compliance at the earliest opportunity and should engage with the NSTA to seek the relevant approvals and consents,” the NSTA added.

In its statement, the NSTA highlighted that the most recent Emissions Monitoring Report noted a 28 percent reduction in production emissions between 2018-2023.

The NSTA also pointed out that it has “signaled its determination to crack down even harder when there are breaches in the OGA Plan, which emphasized that operators should take action and budget to reduce flaring and venting, and in an Open Letter to industry published in December 2024 which made clear that the starting amount to consider the fine for breaches of flaring and venting consents occurring after 1 January 2025 would be GBP 500,000 ($668,670)”.

The GBP 500,000 starting point did not take effect in this case as the investigation was started before the Open Letter was published, the NSTA noted in its statement.

“In determining the size of this fine, the NSTA took into account that Chrysaor was unaware that it had exceeded for approximately seven months; indicating that it was not tracking its venting, and had poor systems and processes in place to monitor its venting volumes,” the NSTA said.

“However, the fact that Chrysaor did bring the breach to the NSTA’s attention, fully co-operated with the investigation, had no previous sanctions and has taken steps to prevent future vent consent exceedances were among the mitigating factors considered,” it added.

In the NSTA statement, Jane de Lozey, NSTA Director of Regulation, said, “reducing the emission of harmful greenhouse gases is vital, and the NSTA will continue to support industry in its efforts to reach net zero by 2050”.

“In the few cases where companies fail to comply with requirements, the NSTA will not hesitate in applying tough sanctions,” de Lozey added.

Rigzone contacted Harbour Energy for comment on the NSTA’s statement. In response, a Harbour Energy spokesperson told Rigzone, “we acknowledge the decision of the North Sea Transition Authority in relation to Armada platform venting in 2022”.

“As an operator, we recognize the importance of maintaining the highest standards of emissions compliance. The regulator has confirmed that the incident was self-reported to the NSTA once identified, and we fully cooperated during its review,” the spokesperson added.

“Following this incident, we conducted a thorough review and took steps to ensure all our operated assets continue to operate safely and in full compliance with regulatory requirements,” the spokesperson went on to state.

On March 31, 2021, Premier Oil plc announced that the all share merger between Premier and Chrysaor Holdings Limited was completed. On that same day, Premier announced that it had changed its name from Premier Oil plc to Harbour Energy plc.

According to its site, the NSTA licenses, regulates, and influences the UK oil and gas, offshore hydrogen, and carbon storage industries.

“We support UK energy security, drive emissions reduction from UK supplies, and help accelerate the transition to net zero to realize the potential of the North Sea as an integrated energy basin,” the NSTA site states.

To contact the author, email andreas.exarheas@rigzone.com