Shell restarts Penguins field in UK North Sea through new FPSO

Shell UK Ltd, a Shell plc subsidiary, has restarted production at Penguins field in the UK North Sea with a modern floating, production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel (Shell 50%, operator; NEO Energy 50%).

Production from Penguins field was previously routed through the Brent Charlie platform, which ceased production in 2021 and is being decommissioned (OGJ Online, July 15, 2024).

In addition to extending the life of Penguins field by up to 20 years, operational emissions from the new FPSO—built by Sevan—compared are expected to be around 30% lower than those of the Brent Charlie platform, the operator said in a Feb. 4 release. The FPSO is a cylindrical hull design with a flareless system, which recycles vapor back into the tanks and reduces emissions.

Peak production at Penguins field is estimated at around 45,000 boe/d and currently has an estimated discovered recoverable resource volume of about 100 MMboe, Shell said. 

UK oil supply, demand

The UK relies on imports to help meet its demand for oil and gas, said Zoë Yujnovich, Shell’s Integrated Gas and Upstream Director, and Penguins field “is a source of the secure domestic energy production people need today.”  According to the North Sea Transition Authority, production of oil and gas in the UK has declined by 11% in the last year and UK production is falling faster than demand.

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, Shell noted. 

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.

Redevelopment of Penguins field has included drilling additional wells, which are tied back to the new FPSO. The field lies in 165 m (541 ft) of water depth, around 150 miles northeast of the Shetland Islands. Discovered in 1974, the field previously produced oil and gas between 2003 and 2021.