Royal Dutch Shell (Shell) announced the redevelopment of the Penguins oil and gas field in the UK North Sea. This project will include the construction of a floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel, the first new manned installation for Shell in the northern North Sea in 30 years.
The Penguins field processes oil and gas using four drill centres tied back to the Brent Charlie platform. Once the field is redeveloped, it will see an additional eight wells drilled, which will be tied back to the new FPSO vessel. Natural gas can be exported through the tie-in of existing subsea facilities and additional pipeline infrastructure. The FPSO is expected to have a peak production (100%) of circa 45,000 boe/d.
Steve Phimister, Vice President for Upstream in the UK and Ireland noted: “Having reshaped our portfolio over the last twelve months, we now plan to grow our North Sea production through our core production assets.”
The Penguins field lies in 165 metres (541 feet) of water, located 150 miles north east off the Shetland Islands and is a joint venture between Shell (50% and operator) and ExxonMobil (50%).
A joint venture-owned/Shell-operated Sevan 400 FPSO has been chosen for the development of the field. Tanker will transport oil to refineries and gas will be transported via the FLAGS pipeline to the St. Fergus gas terminal in north-east Scotland, the company informed.
