Shell has announced plans to sell three of its North Sea fields as it kicks off a £9billion asset sale.
The struggling oil giant is reviewing 150 “core performance units” after reporting a 48% slide in profits last month.
Yesterday, staff in Aberdeen were told that the Anasuria, Nelson and Sean fields were being put on the market.
Ben van Beurden – who became chief executive of the firm on January 1 – said Shell would be making “hard choices” about all of its assets. But last night UK boss Glen Cayley told the Press and Journal that despite the sell-off, they remain committed to the North Sea.
“The UK is an important business region for Shell, and our investment strategy continues to focus on assets where we see an opportunity for growth using our world-class technological know-how,” he said.
“We are focusing and strengthening our portfolio for the decades ahead with many exciting projects such as new wells we are drilling at Shearwater, our investment in extending the life of Gannet, our investments in the non-operated ventures of Schiehallion and Clair and our purchases, last year, of a further interest in Beryl and the Curlew floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel.”
Read Jeremy Cresswell’s take on the Shell sell-off decision here
He added: “We are talking to staff about the proposal to sell the assets in order to be as open as possible, whilst confirming our commitment to the North Sea.”
Anasuria is a Shell-operated, manned FPSO installation for the production from four subsea fields: Teal, Teal South, Guillemot A and Cook.
It is located 115 miles east of Aberdeen operating in 292ft of water, producing gas and oil.
Shell has a 50% equity share, and the joint venture partner is Esso Exploration and Production UK with a 50% holding.
Shell has a 25.77% share in Cook – other owners are Ithaca Energy with 41.35%, Summit Petroleum with 20% and Esso Exploration and Production UK with 12.89%.
Nelson is a Shell-operated, manned platform approximately 124 miles north-east of Aberdeen, and includes subsea tie-backs to Howe and Bardolino.
Oil is exported to the Forties Pipeline System and the gas is exported via the Fulmar pipeline to St Fergus. The co-venturers are Shell (58.1%), Esso Exploration and Production UK (21.23%), Apache North Sea (11.52%), Idemitsu Petroleum UK (7.48%), and Premier Oil ONS (1.66%).
Sean is a Shell-operated, manned, two bridge-linked platform, a wellhead platform, and a production platform located in the Southern North Sea 68-miles north-east of Lowestoft.
It produces gas which is exported to Bacton. Shell has a 25% equity share, and the co-venture partners are Scottish and Southern Energy (50%), and Esso Exploration and Production UK Ltd (25%).
Their sale marks the latest disposal by Shell after the company offloaded stakes in a Brazilian oil project and Australian liquefied natural gas venture since the beginning of the year.
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