Shell Delays Decisions on GoM, North Sea Projects

Ron Bousso
Wednesday, April 22, 2020

Royal Dutch Shell has postponed decisions on whether to go ahead with two large oil and gas developments in the Gulf of Mexico and North Sea after oil prices collapsed due to the coronavirus crisis, a company source said on Wednesday.

The Anglo-Dutch company slashed its 2020 spending plans by a fifth as measures to halt the spread of the virus led to an unprecedented drop in oil demand and sent oil prices to their lowest in two decades.

As a result of this, the source said Shell had delayed a final investment decision (FID) to 2021 on whether to develop its Whale discovery in the southern part of the U.S. Gulf of Mexico. The source said some work on the project continued.

A decision on Whale was initially planned for later this year, following the discovery in 2017 of what Shell said was one of its biggest finds in recent years.

Shell, the operator of the Whale project, holds 60% in the field, while Chevron holds the remaining 40%.

The source also said Shell decided this month to defer a decision about the Jackdaw natural gas field in Britain's North Sea. The development plan originally envisaged linking the field to the existing Shearwater platform by 2024.

The delays come after private equity-backed Siccar Point, Shell's partner in another North Sea project,Cambo, announced on March 20 that the FID on the field was pushed back to 2021 due to coronavirus.

Shell previously said projects it would develop would be built to generate profit with Brent crude at $30 a barrel or more. The benchmark was below $20 on Wednesday.

(Reporting by Ron Bousso; Editing by Edmund Blair)

Categories: Energy Deepwater Industry News Activity Europe North America Gulf of Mexico UKCS USA

Related Stories

Türkiye Offshore Wind Roadmap Outlines Up to 7GW Potential by 2040

Shell Pauses Gulf of Mexico Drilling Ops, Moves Personnel to Shore Amid Hurricane Forecast

Tyra II Facilities to Operate at Full Technical Capacity Sooner Than Expected

Current News

First Steel Cut for ExxonMobil’s Guyana Field-Bound FPSO Jaguar

Santos Hires McDermott for Harriet Alpha Decom Work Off Australia

EnerMech Lands Services Contract with North Sea Oil and Gas Operator

Global OTEC Presents OTEC Power Module for Remote Offshore Platforms

Subscribe for OE Digital E‑News