Located around 125 km east of the Shetland Islands, the £2
billion investment in the Kraken oilfield by oil and gas
development and production company EnQuest, was made possible by
the UK Government’s support for the sector.
The oilfield is expected to contain around 128 million barrels of
oil and support more than 1,000 jobs in the UK for each year of
its more than 20 year lifespan.
Business and Energy Secretary said:
This is a landmark project for EnQuest and the UK oil and gas
sector as one of the largest new oil fields to come on-stream
in the North Sea in a decade.
This has been made possible through significant UK government
support worth £2.3 billion over two years to encourage
investments of this type in the North Sea, supporting thousands
of highly-skilled jobs.
We’ll continue to build on this support for the oil and gas
sector as it looks to seize the significant opportunities that
lie ahead.
The North Sea currently supports around 330,000 jobs across the
UK with a supply chain that had an estimated turnover of £28
billion in 2016.
Scottish Secretary, said:
This is fantastic news and will help ensure skilled, secure
jobs in the vital North Sea oil and gas industry, which is very
much still open for business.
The UK Government is committed to helping the oil and gas
industry maximise future prosperity. We stand ready to continue
to support the industry as its seizes this tremendous
opportunity.
The UK Government is continuing to encourage investment to ensure
industry is able to maximise the recovery of oil and gas from the
UK Continental Shelf in the North Sea.
The Kraken Area (Kraken and Kraken North) is estimated to have 3%
of remaining UK oil reserves, 2% of total oil and gas reserves
and, at peak in 2019, to be responsible for 3% of total UK oil
and gas production.
