Shell to develop Victory natural gas field offshore UK
(WO) – Shell U.K. Limited has taken a final investment decision (FID) on the Victory natural gas field in the UK North Sea, approximately 47 km northwest of the Shetland Islands. Once onstream, the field will help to maintain domestically produced natural gas for Britain’s homes, businesses and power generation.
The development will feature a single subsea well which will be tied back to existing infrastructure of the Greater Laggan Area system, using a new 16 km pipeline.
“The UK North Sea is a critical national resource, providing a steady supply of the fuels people rely on today and strengthening the country’s energy security and resilience,” said Shell UK Upstream Senior Vice President, Simon Roddy. “Continued investment is required to sustain domestic production, which is declining faster than the UK’s demand for oil and gas.”
According to the regulator, the North Sea Transition Authority, only 38% of the UK’s 2022 natural gas consumption was domestically produced – the rest was imported.
It is anticipated the Victory field will come online in the middle of the decade and at its peak, produce enough gas to heat almost 900,000 homes per year. This is around 150 MMcfgd (approximately 25,000 boed). Most of the field’s recoverable gas is expected to be extracted by the end of the decade.
Victory’s natural gas will be processed onshore at the Shetland Gas Plant before being piped to the UK mainland to enter the National Grid at St Fergus, where Shell UK is also helping develop the Acorn Carbon Capture and Storage project.
Because Victory will tie back to existing infrastructure, its operational emissions will be lower than for many current UK North Sea natural gas fields.
Shell UK completed the acquisition of a 100% interest in Corallian Energy Ltd in November 2022. The acquisition exclusively comprised the P2596 Victory license to develop natural gas West of Shetland.
Victory is part of Shell UK’s aim to be a major investor in the UK energy system, sitting alongside low-carbon and renewable projects, such as CCS.
