NEO Energy’s Western Isles FPSO has been spotted arriving at Orkney Harbour ahead of its work at the Greater Buchan Area redevelopment.
The Western Isles floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel was acquired by NEO Energy late last year when it took over Dana Petroleum’s 77% stake.
This made NEO Energy the 100% owner of Western Isles following the early closure of its namesake field.
The FPSO had operated on the North Sea project sharing its name until operator Dana Petroleum confirmed the field would be shutting down eight years earlier than scheduled when plans were greenlit by regulator OPRED.
Orkney Harbours shared on social media: “Leaving the Harris and Barra fields behind, the vessel will be in Scapa Flow for six months to a year before being redeployed to a new field.
“Significant work is required to prepare the vessel for redeployment, involving Orcadian suppliers, engineers, and logistics companies, which will boost the local economy.”
Now the vessel is set to work on the Greater Buchan Area (GBA) redevelopment, which kicked off front end engineering and design (FEED) work last year.
NEO, as the field operator, plans for a “relatively modest” work programme to be undertaken in order to prepare the FPSO for redeployment on Buchan, according to joint project partner Jersey Oil & Gas.
Designed by Sevan SSP, the Western Isles FPSO was constructed by COSCO Shipyard in China with production brought online in 2017.
Featuring a 70m hull and storage capacity for up to 400,000 barrels of oil, it produced from the Harris and Barra fields in the around 100 miles east of Shetland in the northern North Sea.
GBA redevelopment setbacks
© Supplied by NEO EnergyThe GBA redevelopment suffered a recent setback as Jersey Oil and Gas announced plans to delay the project due to political uncertainty in the UK.
Production was originally tipped to kick off in the fourth quarter of 2026 but has now been pushed back to “late 2027.”
Earlier this year Serica completed its farm-in deal on the Buchan project, securing a 30% non-operated interest in the Greater Buchan Area (GBA) from Jersey Oil and Gas.
NEO Energy, operator of Buchan, owns a 50% stake while Jersey accounts for the remaining 20%.
The Aberdeen-headquartered NEO Energy was said to be continuing work on the project’s field development plan at the time of the delay announcement last month.
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