Voice of Russia: Is North Sea oil exploration nearing its expiry date?

The oil field which helped kick-start the North Sea oil boom in the 1970s now looks set to be approaching the end of its useful life. Anglo-Dutch energy company, Royal Dutch Shell, has announced that it will close two of its three remaining platforms this weekend, while the third will be decommissioned in the near future. It raises questions as to the future for Britain’s energy dependencies and whether North Sea oil and gas are now things of the past. VoR's Tim Walklate has more.

The multi-national oil and gas company also said that the remaining platform, Brent Charlie, would follow suit “in the next few years.” In late 2011 another platform, Brent Delta, was the first to be decommissioned and this marked the beginning of the retirement of the giant oilfield. Shell said in a statement that “from a technically innovative installation phase through to a long period of operation and production, these platforms have helped to sustain vital North Sea oil and gas supplies. We will now focus on safely decommissioning these assets.”
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