CHEVRON, the US oil and gas giant, has provided a vote of confidence in the UK North Sea by giving the go-ahead for the development of the Alder field 100 miles off Scotland.
The company has decided to proceed with a development scheme that will involve it operating in challenging conditions and an outlay of more than £200 million.
UK Energy Minister Michael Fallon said: "Developments like Alder confirm the basin is still vibrant with many opportunities."
He noted the proposed development features one of the most complex wells to be drilled in the North Sea.
Chevron highlighted the role tax breaks played in persuading the company to sanction the investment required to develop the high pressure, high temperature reservoir. Alder was discovered in 1975.
Craig May, managing director of Chevron Upstream Europe, said the development would be helped by the enhanced Small Field Allowance introduced by the UK Government in 2012.
Chevron's decision to proceed may provide reassurance it still sees potential to make profitable investments in UK waters, though operators have faced cost rises amid buoyant activity levels in the area.
In November, Chevron said its planned £6 billion Rosebank development, 80 miles west of Shetland, was not currently economically attractive. The company has said it is still in the design phase of Rosebank.
First production from Alder is expected in 2016. Chevron awarded contracts worth around £200m connected with the development to UK suppliers in 2013.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article