As Great Britain’s regulator, North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA), tightens the noose on excessive emissions of greenhouse gases by tackling flaring and venting activity, Chrysaor, which became part of Harbour Energy in 2021, has been fined £150,000 ($200,269.5) for vent breaches at its offshore platform in the North Sea on the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS).
According to the NSTA, the UK operator exceeded its consent by more than 145 tonnes due to breaches that occurred at its Armada processing hub , which serves Hawkins , Fleming , Drake , Maria , and Seymour fields in the Central North Sea with a capacity of over 20,000 barrels per day.
The regulator claims that the firm failed to identify and inform it of the breach for seven months, despite repeated messaging to the industry that production needs to become increasingly clean. Chrysaor blamed the breach on high winds preventing it from relighting the flare on the Armada platform, which is situated 132 nautical miles East of Aberdeen.
The Armada platform’s unplanned shut-in in January 2022 led to one vent event, followed by another in August the same year after a start-up from shutdown. Afterward, high winds caused the flare to extinguish in October 2022, and the operator was unable to relight the flare for three days. In November 2022, the flare was extinguished as a result of a depressurization, but weather conditions prolonged relighting.
According to the NSTA, Chrysaor vented 370.046 tonnes at Armada from January 1, 2022, to December 31, 2022, exceeding its consent by 145.566 tonnes, almost 65%. As the regulator was not informed about the breach in venting consent from October 2022 until May 2023, it interprets this as an indication that the operator was unaware of the amount it vented.
While the industry noted a 28% reduction in production emissions between 2018 and 2023 based on the recent ‘ Emissions Monitoring Report ,’ the NSTA signaled its determination to crack down even harder on any breaches in its OGA Plan , which emphasized that operators should take action and budget to reduce flaring and venting.
Afterward, the regulator emphasized the same point in an open letter to the 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 January 1, 2025, would be £500,000, which did not take effect in the Armada case as the investigation begun before the letter was published.
The NSTA, which has repeatedly warned licensees that complying with regulatory obligations is vitally important to meeting the aim of net zero by 2050 and retaining public confidence in the industry, underlined: “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.”
While determining the size of the Armada 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 list of mitigating factors considered in Chrysaor’s breach entails the fact that the operator brought the breach to the regulator’s attention, fully co-operated with the investigation, had no previous sanctions, and took steps to prevent future vent consent exceedance.
The latest fine comes shortly after the NSTA imposed a penalty of £125,000 (around $153,824) on a European affiliate of China’s CNOOC for breaching its venting consent on two separate occasions at a field 60 miles northeast of Aberdeen.
Jane de Lozey , NSTA’s Director of Regulation, commented: “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.”