NSTA fines CNR International and NEO for emissions and decommissioning breaches
The North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) has issued £350,000 (US$468,195) in penalties to two North Sea operators—CNR International and NEO—for violations related to venting limits and well decommissioning requirements.
CNR International received a £250,000 (US$334,400) fine after exceeding permitted gas venting limits twice in 2023 on its Ninian assets. The regulator found the company lacked adequate systems to track venting volumes and failed to ensure staff were familiar with NSTA’s 2021 guidance. CNR exceeded its initial annual consent by 2,539 tonnes and later surpassed a revised limit issued in November 2023.
NEO was fined £100,000 (US$133,770) for attempting to fully abandon the Leverett well in March 2024 without first securing regulatory consent, which is a legal requirement for all well decommissioning activity. The abandonment work was not completed successfully and must be repeated. The NSTA cited the company’s misunderstanding of relevant obligations and shortcomings in internal processes.
The regulator emphasized that the sanctions reinforce industry-wide accountability and the need for operators to demonstrate full regulatory compliance, especially around emissions management and safe, properly authorized decommissioning. Venting and flaring accounted for 19% of UKCS production emissions in 2024. And since 2021, NSTA has imposed a total of £1.2 million (US$1.6 million) in fines for similar infringements.
Both companies cooperated with the investigation, according to the NSTA.
In a separate action, the NSTA also fined Chrysaor £150,000 (US$200,655) in July 2025 for exceeding venting limits by more than 145 tonnes at the Armada hub in the Central North Sea and failing to notify the regulator of the breach for seven months.
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