Penguins: Shell to bring new oil and gas vessel to UK by September

Shell plans bring the Penguins FPSO – its first new manned vessel in the northern North Sea in a generation – to the UK by September.

The long-delayed project is now in the window for being towed in place and hooked-up east of Shetland, according to newly-published documents which set out Shell’s window of April – September.

Penguins is a redevelopment of a hub once served by the giant Brent Charlie platform, with the new FPSO (floating production, storage and offloading vessel) currently at Aibel’s yard in Haugesund, Norway where it has been for more than a year.

Penguins has already been the target of environmental protests offshore, with activists climbing aboard the vessel on its way to Norway in January last year, and a retaliatory lawsuit of Greenpeace by the oil giant.

© Supplied by Shell

Ahead of installation, and in part due to the several-year delay in getting the project going since initial approvals in 2017 and 2018, Shell has applied for extra consents from the UK regulator linked to moorings and putting the FPSO in place.

That includes consents for the power system, which will bring emissions via its gas generators offshore.

Penguins has historically been oil-producing with associated gas reinjected to boost production.

Shell (LON: SHEL) intends to now take associated gas and export it via a new pipeline to the St Fergus terminal in Aberdeenshire.

Penguins

Sanctioning the project in 2018, Shell said it would unlock 80 million barrels of oil equivalent, create hundreds of jobs, and keep the gas hub producing beyond 2035.

 

A consultation published by regulator OPRED has invited interested parties to give their views on consents for the power system by May 14 ahead of a government decision.

Shell’s “environmental assessment justification”, which is also newly-published, states  the Penguins project will account for less than 1% of overall CO2 emissions from the UK Continental Shelf and have “significantly reduced” environmental impact compared to Brent Charlie which ceased production in 2021.

Delays, protest, lawsuit

Issues at the construction yard in China linked to Covid saw major delays to the sailaway of the FPSO, which was due to take place in 2021 but eventually happened in 2023.

Shell has also encountered “brownfield issues” which has put paid to plans for tow out and hook up of the vessel.

Last year, activists from Greenpeace boarded it for 13 days on its trek from China to Norway.

London-listed Shell has launched a lawsuit over the action, claiming the protest was unsafe and the activists risked being “dragged under” the vessel during the action when one of them fell in the water.

The oil giant said it respected the right to protest, but it must be done safely. Activists argued Shell is exaggerating the risks.

Celebrities like Emma Thomson and Stephen Fry have called on Shell to drop the action.

According to Marine Tracker data, the Shell Penguins FPSO remains at Haugesund.

After preparatory works, Shell outlined two options for tow out and hook up of the FPSO which could take 17-26 days, depending on weather windows.