Oil & Gas UK Economic Report 2014

6. Case Studies for New Investment – West of Shetland

1

2

Introduction

accessible by other operators with future gas prospects in the area. In both cases, the Sullom Voe Terminal on the mainland of Shetland is playing a central role. It was originally built in the 1970s when the first oil fields in the NNS area were being developed. Above all, new technologies have enabled these resources WoS to be developed. The earliest fields brought into production during the 1990s were on the edge of the North Atlantic’s continental shelf in waters about 300 metres (m) deep (1,000 feet); the latest are at twice this depth.

The area to the west of Shetland (WoS) is the least developed of the UKCS and, while it does not appear to have the resources of the CNS, it has considerable potential, as Figure 36 shows. Only a modest proportion of the resources WoS is currently in production or under development, and substantial investment opportunity of 3-4 billion boe still remains. In BP’s case, this is in oil fields, whereas Total is developing the first gas fields WoS and installing infrastructure which will be

3

4

5

6

Figure 36: Reserves and Resources by Area of the UK Continental Shelf

7

12

Yet to Find Resources Potential Additional Resources

10

Possible Reserves Probable Reserves Ongoing Investments In Production 01.01.2014

8

8

6

4

Reserves/Resources (Billion boe)

2

0

W of S

NNS

CNS

SNS, IS, West of Scotland

Source: DECC, Oil & Gas UK

65

ECONOMIC REPORT 2014