Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the effect on the domestic offshore skills base of Shell UK Ltd's decision to award Allseas Group SA the contract for decommissioning three of its Brent Field platforms on the UK Continental Shelf.

The contract award will see around 1,000 skilled people involved in the Brent decommissioning Project offshore, including many engineers. Brent decommissioning is a huge undertaking which has already generated investment allowing construction of a new quay and upgrading of Able UK Ltd’s onshore facilities. The construction and dismantlement activity will also create 200 new jobs. It paves the way for a new generation of North Sea related work in the decades ahead. This contract and its associated experience in dealing with large scale decommissioning projects could also help establish a UK decommissioning supply chain capable of taking forward the increasing numbers of projects we see coming forward in the next few years.