Shell has said it is “great to be back exploring” in the UK southern North Sea after agreeing a deal earlier this year with junior company Cluff Natural Resources to farm in to two licences, writes Rob Watts.

Shell agreed in February to acquire a 70% working interest and take over as operator of licence P2252 in return for covering costs of exploration work on the 560 billion cubic feet Pensacola prospect.

In April it exercised an option to acquire a 50% working interest in licence P2437 — home to the 291 Bcf Selene prospect.

“Shell is back in the southern North Sea exploring and that is great,” Robert Konert, a Shell petroleum geoscientist based in Assen in the Netherlands, told the inaugural NorEx conference organised last week by the UK Oil & Gas Authority in Norwich.

“Shell recently entered two quality exploration licences with Cluff Natural Resources. That brought us back into the southern North Sea,” Konert told the event, held in conjunction with the East of England Energy Group’s SNS 2019 conference in Norwich.

“Our strategy in this area... is to strengthen, it is to reshape, it is to high-grade the southern North Sea portfolio.”

Konert said Selene, just north of the Clipper hub, where Shell operates the Barque facilities, is “what we regard as a high-value, near-field exploration opportunity for asset optimisation”.

Pensacola, meanwhile, Konert called a “standalone material opportunity that would provide us with the opportunity to extend our heartland”.

Konert also said Shell can act more quickly to do deals than some might expect: “These deals were matured under a very fast timeline... we can act quickly if time is essential.”

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SNS back on menu for Shell