A power cut at Shell’s Nelson platform, 124 miles off Aberdeen in the North Sea, saw 148 of the 167 on board airlifted to the nearby Borgholm Dolphin flotel on Tuesday (19 August).
Nineteen workers remained on the rig while the problem is resolved. Nelson was shut down for maintenance at the time.
Meanwhile, Premier Oil has removed a number of staff from its Balmoral floating production vessel, which sits about 140 miles north-east of Aberdeen, due to "temporarily reduced lifeboat capacity." Balmoral was also shut down for maintenance.
Nelson was reported to be one of a number of North Sea assets Shell has been looking to sell, alongside the Anasuria floating production vessel and the Sean platform.
In May this year, Shell was issued with an improvement notice by the UK’s Health and Safety Executive on Nelson after a flexible hose assembly, connected to a gas turbine, was found to not have been maintained in good repair.
Nelson is on Block 22/11. It was discovered in 1988 by Enterprise Oil, which was bought by Shell in the early 1990s. At the time, proved and probable reserves were put at 480MMbbl of oil and 85Bcf of gas.