UK regulator rejects Shell’s plan for North Sea gas project

UK’s petroleum regulator has not approved Shell’s proposed development plan for a gas field located in the UK North Sea.

Following reports that the UK’s Offshore Petroleum Regulator for Environment and Decommissioning has not sanctioned Shell’s Environmental Statement (ES) for the Jackdaw field development, Offshore Energy has reached out to Shell seeking confirmation and further details.

A spokesperson for Shell confirmed that the plan had not been approved. However, the spokesperson has not revealed any further details about the reasons behind this decision, which will be “made public by the regulator in due course”.

Shell submitted its Environmental Statement for Jackdaw field development to the UK authorities on 6 May this year and issued the ES for public consultation on 10 May. This ES was an update to the original statement for the Jackdaw project submitted in January 2020.

Namely, due to deferral in project sanctioning in 2020, the updated ES was re-submitted under new regulations, which came into force on 31 December 2020. The scope of the ES includes all offshore activities associated with drilling, installation, commissioning and start-up, operations and decommissioning activities.

Located about 250 km east of Aberdeen and 30 km south-east of the Shearwater platform in the North Sea, the Jackdaw is an ultra-high pressure / high temperature (uHPHT) gas condensate field, which was planned to be developed via a new wellhead platform (WHP) tied back to Shell’s existing Shearwater host platform. Some minor modifications to the host platform were planned as part of the project.

The plan was to drill four wells at the Jackdaw WHP while the produced fluids would be exported via a subsea pipeline to the Shearwater platform where these would be processed before onward export via the Fulmar Gas Line and the Forties Pipeline System.

Drilling operations were scheduled to happen in the period between 3Q 2022 and 4Q 2023 and the platform jacket installation in 3Q 2022. After this, the installation of topsides and export pipeline would follow in the period between 3Q 2022 and 1Q 2024 and the first production was expected in 3Q or 4Q 2024.

The effects of the regulator’s decision on the timeline of the project development remain unclear.

The update comes as the scrutiny over the development of new oil and gas projects is increasing in the UK, especially when it comes to another project where Shell is involved, the Cambo oil project. The Cambo is operated by Siccar Point Energy with Shell as a partner holding a 30 per cent interest. The country has seen several protests over the Cambo project, which contains over 800 million barrels of oil. It is one of the largest undeveloped fields in the UKCS and will open up other prospects for potential development in the area.

As reported earlier on Wednesday, activists from Extinction Rebellion Scotland blocked the main entrance of the oil rig maintenance facility at Invergordon Service Base of the Cromarty Firth Port Authority as part of a protest against fossil fuels extraction.

Back in July 2021, activists occupied a UK government building as part of a protest against the approval of the Cambo oil field project. The group demanded that the Prime Minister put a stop to the expected approval of the Cambo field.