Shell to Go Ahead with Shearwater Gas Expansion

Royal Dutch Shell said on Monday it would expand the Shearwater gas hub in the British North Sea, its seventh project to get the green light in the ageing basin this year.

The project, a joint venture with Exxon Mobil (XOM) and BP, will include a modification of the Shearwater platform to allow production and processing of wet gas as well as the construction of a 23 mile (37 kilometer) pipeline from the Fulmar Gas Line (FGL) to Shearwater, Shell said in a statement.

The pipeline installation, which will enable wet gas to flow into the Shell Esso Gas and Associated Liquids (SEGAL) pipeline, is scheduled for 2019, while the platform expansion is scheduled for the following year, according to a Shell spokesman.

At peak production, the wet gas export capacity of the Shearwater hub is expected to be around 400 million standard cubic feet of gas a day, or roughly 70,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.

The Shearwater project is the seventh project Shell and its partners approved for development this year, including the Penguins field, its first major new project in the basin in six years.

(Reporting by Ron Bousso; editing by David Evans)