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Shell Finds Unexploded Bomb Next to Gas Pipeline for the Brent Field

Unexploded ordnance is a recurring challenge in UK waters, as seen in this file image of a test torpedo recovered by a tanker in 2017 (Royal Navy file image)
File image: a test torpedo recovered by a tanker off Portland, UK in 2017. Unexploded ordnance is a recurring challenge in UK waters. (Royal Navy file image)

Published Jan 13, 2025 9:13 PM by The Maritime Executive

 

Shell has confirmed the discovery of an unexploded bomb next to a 40-year-old gas line running across the North Sea. 

Unexploded ordnance from World War II - and even earlier - is found regularly in UK waters, and it poses a potential hazard to navigation and development. During an inspection of the Far North Liquids and Associated Gas System Pipeline (Flags pipeline), Shell's staff located what they believe to be an unexploded bomb near the line at a position about 40 miles to the east of Shetland. 

Shell has launched an investigation into how this unexploded bomb came to be next to an operating subsea gas pipeline, and the supermajor has brought in a third-party advisor to examine the circumstances. The Maritime and Coastguard Agency has been notified, and a guard vessel has been stationed next to the location of the bomb. For now, the pipeline continues to operate as normal. 

The Flags pipeline was installed in 1982, in the heyday of North Sea oil and gas development. It is a 36-inch line stretching about 200 nautical miles north to south, and delivers wet gas from the Brent Field to the St. Fergus Gas Terminal in Scotland. In 2007, Flags was connected to the Tampen gas pipeline between Norway's Statfjord development and the UK. Shell and ExxonMobil share the pipeline's ownership.

An estimated 500,000 pieces of unexploded weaponry from WWI and WWII rest on the bottom in waters around Great Britain, according to a 2020 parliamentary study. Just last month, a Scottish fishing vessel brought up an unexploded antisubmarine mortar in the Firth of Forth near Edinburgh. The device contained about 80 pounds of explosives, and after the crew were evacuated, it was safely removed from the boat by an HM Coastguard bomb squad. The mortar was moved offshore and safely detonated in deeper water.