Another Rosebank delivery arrives in Lerwick Harbour
MORE equipment for the Rosebank oil and gas development arrived in Lerwick on a large barge on Tuesday evening.
The barge AMT Crusader, flanked by tugs, was transporting items such as flexible flow lines and water injection lines.
Large pieces of infrastructure for the development began arriving in Lerwick last year for onward transport to the field, which is located around 130 kilometres north west of Shetland.
Work can continue on the Equinor project despite a recent court ruling which means the UK Government will have to re-consider the development’s approval.
A spokesperson for developer Equinor said in March that the Rosebank oil and gas project is “progressing according to plan”.
They told Shetland News this week that the vessel Olympic Challenger arrived at the Rosebank field on 11 April and is performing pre-installation work at the infield area and at the gas export pipeline route.
The first seven mooring anchors will also be transported to Lerwick.
The vessel Deep Explorer will also starting installing mooring suction anchors.
The Equinor spokesperson said the Norwegian company is “very grateful for the good collaboration and contributions” from Lerwick Port Authority and local suppliers.
While oil will bypass Shetland, instead going through a floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel, gas from Rosebank will go through a new export pipeline to the existing West of Shetland pipeline system.
Equinor said the gas will go through BP’s sweetening facility at Sullom Voe Terminal before heading into a new crossover pipeline. It will then go into the existing SIRGE pipeline before eventually finishing up at the St Fergus terminal on the Scottish mainland.
The court ruling, issued in January, quashed decisions from the government to approve the Jackdaw and Rosebank developments, made in 2022 and 2023 respectively.
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The projects – which have not yet begun producing oil and gas – will have to be reconsidered and take into account the emissions which would result from burning the oil and gas produced from the fields.
But Lord Ericht suspended the “reduction” on the decision until a fresh decision has been reached.
This enables the oil and gas developers to continue working on the projects up to that point.
Equinor previously said the company and its joint venture partner Ithaca have already committed over £2.2 billion on developing Rosebank – “awarding vital contracts across the supply chain and employing personnel to deliver the work”.
The Rosebank development – estimated to be the largest undeveloped field in the UK continental shelf – is criticised by environmental campaigners who say the oil should not be extracted.
Director of campaign group Uplift, Tessa Khan, said after January’s court ruling that “Rosebank is a disaster for the climate and will do next to nothing to create the prosperity and stability that the UK needs”.
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