The Herald (Scotland): Shell pledges to keep investing in North Sea projects: “SHELL, the UK-Dutch petroleum company, celebrated the inauguration of its £300m Goldeneye project in the North Sea by sending a clear message that its plans a long future in UK waters.” (ShellNews.net) 12 Nov 04
GRAEME SMITH
November 12 2004
SHELL, the UK-Dutch petroleum company, celebrated the inauguration of its £300m Goldeneye project in the North Sea by sending a clear message that its plans a long future in UK waters.
The Princess Royal was the guest of honour at the event at the St Fergus Terminal north of Peterhead.
A 105-kilometre pipeline will pump gas to the terminal from the unmanned platform in the outer Moray Firth.
Tom Botts, the chief executive officer of Shell Exploration and Production in Europe, said the company was investing $4bn (£2.2bn) a year in Europe and it would remain at that level for the next 10 years. "The idea that the North Sea is old and dying and majors want to leave and everyone is ready to turn out the lights is nonsense," he said. "There is at least as much to play for as has already been recovered.
"It comes in smaller packages and it is more technologically difficult and the UKCS (United Kingdom Continental Shelf) is relatively high cost than other bases around the world, but these are challenges which companies like Shell are trying to take on," he added. "We have 21 major installations, we operate more than 20 gas fields, primarily in the south, and in total 50 fields come under our asset base in the UKCS.
"The UKCS has been extremely important to us. Since it started there has been £200bn invested in the UKCS and Shell has been responsible for a quarter of that."
Gregg Hill, production director, agreed with Bott. "We are in healthy middle age with a lot of reserves left."
The Goldeneye field was discovered in 1996 and the project was launched in 2002 with a predicted start-up by the end of 2004. Production started on October 18. Plateau gas production is estimated to be around 300 million standard cubic feet of gas and associated liquids per day.
The venture will help secure several thousand jobs in Scotland.
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