The oil giant Shell confirmed that its new North Sea project will be creating jobs for 300 to 400 people in the UK and will unlock 80 million barrels of oil. The majority of those jobs will be in the north-east of Scotland and will be in areas such as project delivery and subsea activity, according to Shell.

The project marks the construction of Shell’s first new manned installation in the northern North Sea in almost 30 years and the company’s intention to reshape its portfolio. Steve Phimister, Shell Vice President for upstream, UK and Ireland, thinks that the redevelopment will give them and their 50/50 project partner ExxonMobil access to 80 million barrels of oil.
“This significant investment by Shell and ExxonMobil is further evidence of rising confidence in the future of the region and it will offer a significant boost to communities across the north-east of Scotland, along with boosting the wider Scottish economy,” said Scottish Energy Minister Paul Wheelhouse.

The investment decision on the Penguins field redevelopment represents “a vote of confidence from two major global operators in realising the significant remaining potential of an existing asset,” said Andy Samuel, Oil and Gas Authority Chief Executive.
The Penguins cluster was developed in 2002 and it produces via a subsea tieback to the Brent Charlie platform. This platform however, is getting old and it is expected to retire in a few years, so Shell will need another way of producing from Penguins.
The US firm Fluor will be the construction contractors for the floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) vessel, while Sevan Marine will be providing the technology and the technical support during the design phase of the circular FPSO.
An exact date for the project start-up is not known yet, but the FPSO should be delivered in the early 2020s.