Background:
Brent Charlie was stationed amongst its brothers Alpha, Bravo, and Delta in a plot of the ocean called the Brent Oilfield which was in 470ft deep water and 116 miles north east of Lerwick in the Shetland islands. They were installed between 1975 - 1978 and mainly provided oil to Shell. It took a total of 3 billion to start the whole operation , what was once one of the UK’s most productive assets was then decommissioned between 2017-2024.
Explore:
The sight where they decommission these rigs is about as north as you can get, so after being cramped in the car for 4 hours we finally arrived, you could see it from miles away so it wasn’t very hard to find. They actually build wind turbines in the same place so security was a bit of an issue, but after ignoring the yelling and alarms we slipped into the very bottom. However, one of us wasn’t so lucky and got caught so that meant we had to be aware of how long we spent which was a shame because we missed out on some key aspects such as the control room. And to add insult to injury my torch died so half the photos weren’t any good as it was pitch black inside. Still one of my favourite explores none the less.
The approach
We were straight away met with endless halls of dials and switches. We were stuck inside for a good half an hour , endless halls with rooms that led to more halls and more rooms but we eventually popped out the other side
Thousands of pipes scattered everywhere you looked
The accommodation block which bulged out the side of the structure. Most of the rooms looked the same, bunk bed and a toilet and occasionally some single rooms. There was also a cinema room , a games room with a pool table and darts, a sauna, a gym , and a cafeteria
Everything just looked a big mess, I feel sorry for the engineers that had to make this
We next made our way onto the helipad, which was a very surreal feeling and we also had a nice view of the surrounding towns and the industrial sites.
And then we did something I hadn’t seen anyone do yet, climbed the absolutely gargantuan tower to get to the very top. Took about 15 mins each way and my body was sore the next day. The ladders were rusty and swaying in the wind but it was all worth it. Truly a once in a lifetime experience.
Once we had got back down it was dark, and we had an inevitable encounter with security , but nothing actually happened and we started the long trek home. While being led away I did manage to get this great photo which I think shows just how massive it is.
Definitely one of my favourite explores, thanks for reading
Brent Charlie was stationed amongst its brothers Alpha, Bravo, and Delta in a plot of the ocean called the Brent Oilfield which was in 470ft deep water and 116 miles north east of Lerwick in the Shetland islands. They were installed between 1975 - 1978 and mainly provided oil to Shell. It took a total of 3 billion to start the whole operation , what was once one of the UK’s most productive assets was then decommissioned between 2017-2024.
Explore:
The sight where they decommission these rigs is about as north as you can get, so after being cramped in the car for 4 hours we finally arrived, you could see it from miles away so it wasn’t very hard to find. They actually build wind turbines in the same place so security was a bit of an issue, but after ignoring the yelling and alarms we slipped into the very bottom. However, one of us wasn’t so lucky and got caught so that meant we had to be aware of how long we spent which was a shame because we missed out on some key aspects such as the control room. And to add insult to injury my torch died so half the photos weren’t any good as it was pitch black inside. Still one of my favourite explores none the less.
The approach
We were straight away met with endless halls of dials and switches. We were stuck inside for a good half an hour , endless halls with rooms that led to more halls and more rooms but we eventually popped out the other side
Thousands of pipes scattered everywhere you looked
The accommodation block which bulged out the side of the structure. Most of the rooms looked the same, bunk bed and a toilet and occasionally some single rooms. There was also a cinema room , a games room with a pool table and darts, a sauna, a gym , and a cafeteria
Everything just looked a big mess, I feel sorry for the engineers that had to make this
We next made our way onto the helipad, which was a very surreal feeling and we also had a nice view of the surrounding towns and the industrial sites.
And then we did something I hadn’t seen anyone do yet, climbed the absolutely gargantuan tower to get to the very top. Took about 15 mins each way and my body was sore the next day. The ladders were rusty and swaying in the wind but it was all worth it. Truly a once in a lifetime experience.
Once we had got back down it was dark, and we had an inevitable encounter with security , but nothing actually happened and we started the long trek home. While being led away I did manage to get this great photo which I think shows just how massive it is.
Definitely one of my favourite explores, thanks for reading
