A/S Norske Shell has received consent to remove the emergency response vessel from the Knarr field.

A/S Norske Shell (Shell) is the operator of the Knarr field, which is in the northern sector of the North Sea, around 50 kilometres north-east of Snorre. Knarr has been developed using a production and storage vessel (FPSO) and subsea wells.

Oil is loaded from the Knarr FPSO into tankers, while the gas is exported by pipeline to St. Fergus in the UK.

Production from the field began in 2015.

Shell now wishes to remove the emergency response vessel from Knarr, and has performed an impact assessment for this purpose. This shows that the vessel can be removed while continuing to meet the emergency preparedness performance requirements. The precondition is that Shell improves the MOB (man over board) system on Knarr FPSO and installs backup equipment for traffic monitoring on the facility.

The PSA has granted Shell consent for the removal as applied for.