The UK Government has given the green light to a new Shell gas field near Shetland.
The North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) granted development and production consent for the Victory field — which sits 29 miles north-west of Shetland — to the oil giant.
An NSTA spokesperson said: “The Victory project is expected to aid the UK’s energy security by providing domestically produced gas for UK homes and businesses, generate significant investment, create jobs and make use of existing infrastructure as we transition.”
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Shell said in a statement that the gas field is expected to produce up to 25,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day when it comes online in the middle of the decade.
Its gas will be processed onshore at the Shetland Gas Plant before being piped to the UK mainland to enter the National Grid at St Fergus.
Responding to the announcement, Shell UK upstream senior vice-president Simon Roddy said: “The UK North Sea is a critical national resource, providing a steady supply of the fuels people rely on today and strengthening the country’s energy security and resilience.
“Continued investment is required to sustain domestic production, which is declining faster than the UK’s demand for oil and gas.”
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Greenpeace UK, meanwhile, said it was more evidence that "Shell simply isn’t serious about preventing catastrophic climate change".
Charlie Kronick, its senior climate adviser, added: "The International Energy Agency has made it clear we can't develop new oil and gas fields if we're going to have a chance of meeting our globally agreed 1.5 degree target.
"By approving this project, the UK Government continues to shred what's left of any reputation it had for climate leadership.”
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