The Balloch, Donan and Lochranza fields are about 200 km northeast of Aberdeen.
The consent, issued by the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) for the period Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 2022, permitted daily venting of 1,035 metric tons, or just under 378 MM t throughout the year.
But NEO admitted having exceeded the daily quota on March 21, 2022, and also surpassing the maximum annual venting consent by about 1,200 MMt.
The NSTA’s investigation found that NEO had incorrectly allocated cold flare (venting) volumes to its flare consent at the start of the year, and the company did not notice the issue until October 2022.
NEO has since cooperated with the NSTA on the investigation and applied for a revised consent.
Last September, the NSTA reported the third successive year of reduced emissions from UK North Sea operations, with a 23% fall in overall emissions between 2018 and 2022.
Jane de Lozey, NSTA’s director of regulation, said, “Producers perform a vital job in supporting UK security of supply, but they must do so within the consents they are given. We welcome the industry’s sustained efforts in ensuring that emissions are falling year on year…However, we take the cases where regulatory obligations are not met very seriously and do not hesitate to take firm action, as this fine demonstrates.”
04.18.2024
