Shell (LON: SHEL) is pressing ahead with its Victory field in the West of Shetland, targeting first gas in 2025.
Statements published by environmental operator OPRED confirm the move for the field, which Shell acquired at the end of last year.
The London-listed supermajor took ownership of Victory, which sits 29 miles north-west of Shetland, in November after buying out Corallian Energy
Shell intends to carry out development drilling and subsea installation activities from Q2 2024, with first gas from 2025, subject to consents.
According to its environmental statement, the Victory field has an estimated recoverable resource of 179 billion cubic feet of gas (P50), equivalent to 7% of the UK’s annual natural gas consumption (i.e. 2,560 billion cubic feet in 2020).
© Supplied by Victory environmentaDiscovered in 1977 by Texaco, it was picked up in the 32nd licensing round by minnow Corallian, which Shell then bought out in November including 100% of Victory.
OPRED has now launched a public consultation on the plans, which will be open until September 18.
It comes as every new project from Shell in the UK in recent years has come under heavy scrutiny from climate groups, like Jackdaw and Cambo.
Victory will be developed as a single subsea tie-back well to TotalEnergies’ existing Greater Laggan Area (GLA) infrastructure, via a new 10-mile pipeline.
The well will be linked to the TotalEnergies’ Edradour manifold 11 miles away and operated via a control room at the Shetland gas plant.
Peak production is expecting to be 4.2m cubic metres per day of gas and 15.5m tonnes of condensate, until around its third year of production.
It is now subject to an environmental impact assessment and consent process.
Submissions for the public consultation should be addressed to OPRED@energysecurity.gov.uk
The news comes as information to mariners printed this week noted progress on the Jackdaw field, with a window opening up for drilling operations.
