Shell
has restarted production at the Penguins field in the UK North Sea with a
modern floating, production, storage and offloading (FPSO) facility (Shell 50%,
operator; NEO Energy 50%).
The previous export route for this field was via the
Brent Charlie platform, which ceased production in 2021 and is being
decommissioned.
Peak
production is estimated at around 45,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day
(boe/d) and currently has an estimated discovered recoverable resource volume
of approximately 100 million boe. Although primarily oil production, Penguins
will also produce enough gas to heat around 700,000 UK homes per year.
The
new FPSO will have around 30% lower operational emissions compared with Brent
Charlie and is expected to extend the life of this important field by up to 20
years.
“Today,
the UK relies on imports to meet much of its demand for oil and gas,” said Zoë
Yujnovich, Shell’s integrated gas and upstream director. “The Penguins field is
a source of the secure domestic energy production people need today, and the
FPSO is a demonstration of our investment in competitive projects that create
more value with less emissions.”
Although
oil will be transported by tanker to refineries outside of the UK, these
include ones that supply refined products like petrol and diesel back to the UK
because of its limited refining capacity.
Natural
gas will be transported through the existing pipeline to the St Fergus gas
terminal in the North-east of Scotland, which supplies the UK’s national gas
network.
The
redevelopment of the Penguins field has involved drilling additional wells,
which are tied back to the new FPSO. The field is in 165 metres (541 feet) of
water depth, around 150 miles north-east of the Shetland Islands. Discovered in
1974, the field previously produced oil and gas between 2003 and 2021.