JULY 6, 2011
The Shell-operated Brent Charlie platform 125 miles north-east of Lerwick is to shut down from next Friday on the orders of oil industry regulators amid continuing concerns about safety.
No oil has been pumped ashore from the installation, the hub for the Brent pipeline that comes into Sullom Voe, since January and gas production, which goes through the FLAGS pipeline to St Fergus on the north-east coast of Scotland, has been restricted to one well.
But now the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has served Shell with a legally-enforceable prohibition notice which means the operator will have to cease production entirely. An HSE spokesman declined to give details of the safety issues it was concerned about for legal reasons.