Three North Sea fields stop production to allow underwater repairs

Repairs will be carried out on the Bruce installation

Three North Sea oil and gas fields have stopped production to allow repairs on a platform to be carried out.

Serica Energy said there was deterioration of an underwater section of a structure on the Bruce installation.

The company said the repair work would take about two months.

Serica said there would be no production from the Bruce and Rhum gas fields and the Keith oil field as a result.

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No workers needed to be taken off the installation due to the damage discovered, the company said.

Serica chief executive Mitch Flegg described it as a "frustrating event".

Mr Flegg said: "The underwater investigation quickly determined the cause of the problem and a solution is being planned to allow the resumption of full production."

Two months of no production would mean a delay in extracting about 1.5m barrels of oil equivalent.

It was announced in 2017 that Serica was buying into the Bruce, Keith and Rhum fields.