Shell hands out new deal to Bureau Veritas for offshore and onshore assets in UK

UK-headquartered energy giant Shell has awarded a long-term deal, covering 26 offshore installations and 3 onshore gas plants in the UK, to Bureau Veritas (BV), French-headquartered testing, inspection, and certification services specialist.

Bureau Veritas revealed on Wednesday that it had secured “a multi-million-pound contract” with Shell to deliver verification and acoustic noise services across 26 offshore installations and three onshore gas plants in the UK.

Paul Shrieve, Vice-President Global Services at Bureau Veritas Marine & Offshore, remarked: “As we enter the decommissioning phase for a number of assets in the region, this new contract shows there is still a role for verification in the energy industry.”

The two players started working together in 2004 and this three-year contract, which has an option to extend for two further years, represents a continuation of the previous work, during which BV provided Independent Verification Body services as well as decommissioning verification services for the Brent Alpha, Bravo and Delta platforms. This was done in line with Shell’s decommissioning programme for the Brent field, located in the East Shetland Basin of the North Sea, 186 kilometres north-east of Lerwick, Shetland Islands, Scotland, at the water depth of 140 metres.

Thanks to the latest deal, Bureau Veritas will continue to support the decommissioning of Brent Charlie, while also providing acoustic noise services to all Shell platforms in the Northern and Southern North Sea, as well as technical integrity audit services for onshore gas plants at St Fergus, Mossmorran and Bacton.

Furthermore, Burea Veritas believes that its work will enable Shell to reduce the total cost of asset ownership due to remote working capabilities being increased. The duo signed up to “an innovative commercial model” which will see any savings made during the duration of the contract split between both parties, says BV.

“The way the deal has been structured offers incentives to both parties, and the agreement we have shown an extreme level of trust and comfort from both sides. We are able to offer Shell further value through our digital innovations which can be connected to their systems, allowing both organisations to benefit,” added Shrieve.

Previously, these two companies worked together to develop the BV Compliance tool, which streamlines planning, administration, project management and reporting to deliver a centralised live overview of the initial and ongoing assessment of SECE (Safety and Environmentally Critical Elements) suitability, as explained within the statement.

“Through BV Compliance, both parties see the value in delivering consistent, high-quality service, and relationships like this have been key to the growth of the BV offering.” concluded Shrieve.

Bureau Veritas’ latest deal with Shell follows several others inked in the past 12 months, including a three-year contract from October 2021 for the delivery of verification, certification, and classification alongside environmental verification and audit services for six Ithaca Energy assets in the UK.

The company also won a three-year deal with Centrica Storage Limited (CSL) in August 2021 for independent verification services at its UK onshore and offshore gas facilities.

Most recently, Bureau Veritas delivered approval in principle (AiP) to Japan’s Mitsubishi Shipbuilding for a spherical cargo tank system for liquefied CO2 (LCO2) carriers.

As LCO2 carriers transport liquefied CO2 in a low temperature, high-pressure state, up to now various tank structures have been available, including cylindrical, bilobed and trilobed designs.