Can I safely remove this metal?

My name is Howard and I'm new to the site. I have a 1990 Holdsworth Vision camper van that has done just 50k miles

I'm in the process of upgrading the old upholstery & headlining and doing some other modifications.

I have a Carver cascade GE2 water heater I'd like to fit but am extremely limited as to where to site it

The only feasible place (and even that might not be) is on the drivers side 3/4 of the way the the back of the van

To run on gas the heater needs to be vented to the outside

My problem is that the fabrication of the van won't allow this without me removing some metal!

This is a piccie of the piece that would need to be removed:

I've marked where I would need to cut out the swaged metal

Does anyone know for sure either way if it's possible to remove this metal without compromising the structural integrity of the van?

I realise VW would not normally put something there if it wasn't needed but just wondered if in this case it was included because LH drive vans would have the heavy sliding door on the offside and removing the metal won't be an issue as mine is RH drive

Sorry it's such a long first post and hope it makes sense.

Any help would be greatly appreciated

Regards, Howard

Thanks a lot for your reply.

I've amended the post to show the image. Apparently Dropbox stopped the facility to make images public last year but didn't tell anyone!

I can't fabricate a pipe to re-route as a vent plate needs to be attached on the outside skin of the van and screwed directly into the unit. The plate and unit are 8" by 9" at this point. It's like a balanced flue if that helps.

I was hoping I might get away with not welding in a couple of plates as it access would be really tricky. the way the inside has been built up I'd have to remove a lot of the interior fixtures but if that's what I have to do then so be it. The picture shown isn't of my van

Thanks again

Regards, Howard