Shell releases new plan for North Sea gas field development

Shell released an amended plan for the development of a major North Sea gas field, which British regulators initially rejected last year on environmental grounds.

The British government has in recent weeks urged North Sea producers to ramp up oil and gas output as Europe tries to reduce its reliance on energy from Russia, following its invasion of Ukraine. Oil and gas prices have shot to multi-year highs in recent weeks.

The Jackdaw development is pivotal to Shell's plan to develop natural gas output at the Shearwater hub in the central North Sea.

The government is expected to publish an energy transition strategy plan next week, which will put more focus on security of energy supply through domestic production.

Britain's Offshore Petroleum Regulator for Environment and Decommissioning (OPRED) in October rejected on environmental grounds the development plan for the Jackdaw field, which has reserves of between 120 MM and 250 MM barrels of oil equivalent. 

Following its release, the Jackdaw environmental plan will face a 30-day public consultation period after which OPRED will review it. A final decision on its development could be taken within three months if no new obstacles arise, according to an industry source.

The new plan changes the way Shell processes natural gas at the Shearwater hub. Rather than removing all naturally occurring CO₂ from the gas offshore, some of it will be exported to the onshore St. Fergus terminal where it will be further treated.

(By: Ron Bousso and Shadia Nasralla)

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