It is understood that the sailaway for the floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel for the Shell Penguins field has been delayed.
The FPSO is now not expected to leave China for the North Sea oil and gas field, located north-east of Shetland, until the third quarter of this year.
A departure date of March 2021 had previously been mooted.
Shell (LON: SHEL) is the operator of Penguins with a 50% stake, while private-equity backed NEO Energy holds the other half.
According to trade publication Upstream, the delay is down to the rollout of lockdown restrictions in China.
Penguins
Oil giant Shell took the final investment decision in 2018 to redevelop the Penguins field using an FPSO.
First oil from the project had been expected this year, though it is unclear if that remains the case.
The FPSO will be Shell’s first new manned vessel in the North Sea for decades.
Penguins previously produced as a tie-back to the Brent Charlie field, which wrapped up production in April 2021 after 40 years.
Since then Penguins has not been producing.
© ShellThe new FPSO will allow the field, 150miles north-east of Shetland, to continue producing into the future – it is expected to remain on stream until 2041.
The Shell Penguins vessel is being constructed in China by US firm Flour, with Boskalis picked to transport the FPSO to the North Sea.
NEO, formed in 2019 through the merger of Verus Petroleum and NEO E&P, acquired a 50% stake in Penguins last year as part of its acquisition of a portfolio of North Sea assets from ExxonMobil.
Brent Charlie
Shell released a film last year to mark the life and final days of the Brent Charlie platform.
It featured interviews with crew members and leading industry figures including Sir Ian Wood.
Brent Charlie was the last platform to be shut down on the iconic Brent field, from which the international crude benchmark takes its name.
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