Shell announced it has restarted production at the Penguins field around 150 miles north-east of the Shetland Islands in the UK North Sea.
Shell said peak production at the field is estimated at around 45,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d) and it 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.
“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%),” said the company.
“The previous export route for this field was via the Brent Charlie platform, which ceased production in 2021 and is being decommissioned …
“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.”
Zoë Yujnovich of Shell
Zoë Yujnovich, Shell’s Integrated Gas and Upstream Director, said: “Today, the UK relies on imports to meet much of its demand for oil and gas.
“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.”
Shell said that 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,” said Shell.
“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.”
Shell said the Penguins FPSO is operated by Shell U.K. Limited, which is a subsidiary of Shell plc. The firm added: “As announced on December 5 2024, Shell U.K. Limited and Equinor UK Ltd are to combine their UK offshore oil and gas assets and expertise to form a new company which will be the UK North Sea’s biggest independent producer.
“On deal completion, the new independent producer will be jointly owned by Equinor (50%) and Shell (50%). The joint venture will take on Shell’s equity interests in Penguins.”