Shell ups exposure to Beryl fields in the North Sea

Oil giant Royal Dutch Shell is looking to buy Hess Corporation's stakes in the Beryl area fields and the Scottish Area Gas Evacuation Systems (SAGE) in the North Sea.

The company announced on Thursday morning that it had signed an agreement with Hess to increase its participation in the area for $525m.

Beryl includes 12 fields located on the UK Continental Shelf which are operated by Apache. With this acquisition, Shell's interest in each field will rise by a range of between 9-65% depending on the field.

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"The Beryl cluster has a far longer anticipated lifetime than originally thought and may produce for a further two decades," Shell said.

"The acquisition should help to enhance the performance and economic potential from key Shell North Sea operated and non-operated assets, lifting Shell's production in the Beryl area fields from currently 9,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d) to 24,000 boe/d. Shell intends to invest in these assets to substantially extend the production life, for potentially a further 20 years."