The co-owners of the UK’s third-largest undeveloped offshore oil resource have started the process of gaining environmental approval for a project with an electrification-ready floating production, stiorage and offloading vessel.

Operator Neo Energy and its joint venture partner Jersey Oil & Gas submitted the Buchan redevelopment project’s environmental statement to the UK regulator on 16 January 2024.

The partnership has agreed to purchase the Western Isles FPSO to use in UK Blocks 20/5 and 21/1 in the Central North Sea, about 115 kilometres north-east of the Aberdeenshire coastline.