Wood scores North Sea extension trifecta worth $118 million

The UK-based engineering and consulting company Wood has secured three reimbursable contract extensions, allowing it to continue working with Shell UK, Dana Petroleum, and CNOOC International in the North Sea.

The extensions with a combined value of $118 million will enable Wood to continue delivering operations and maintenance solutions for the three majors’ extensive offshore portfolio. Around 500 Wood employees in Aberdeen, UK, are set to take part in the process.

“We have an unmatched legacy in operating and maintaining North Sea energy infrastructure. Our long-standing clients continue to partner with us to enhance operations and improve production efficiency to ensure a reliable, safe and sustainable energy supply,” said Steve Nicol, Wood’s President of Operations.

“In 2024 we secured 100% of our contract renewal and extension options across our UK North Sea portfolio and continuing this success in 2025 reinforces our position as a trusted long-term partner for operations solutions in the region.”

As disclosed, one extension will encompass Shell UK’s Shearwater, Gannet, Nelson, and Penguins assets. The latter is home to an eponymous floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) unit brought online at the start of February 2025.

It is the UK major’s first new North Sea FPSO in nearly three decades, resuming oil and gas production from a field in UK waters that has been offline since 2021.

Wood already won a two-year contract extension enabling it to provide brownfield engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) services for the FPSO Penguins in February 2025.

The second extension covers CNOOC’s Golden Eagle, Buzzard, and Scott assets. According to CNOOC, the Buzzard asset is one of the UK’s highest-producing fields, located about 100 kilometres northeast of Aberdeen. The first oil was produced in 2007.

At the start of this year, CNOOC was fined by the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) for venting without consent at the Buzzard field twice in two weeks, making it the sixth North Sea operator to be fined for excessive flaring or venting in the past two years.

The third deal covers two FPSO units, Triton and Western Isles, operated by Dana Petroleum. Located in block 21/30, approximately 120 miles east of Aberdeen, FPSO Triton produces oil and gas from the Bittern, Clapham, Pict, Saxon, and Guillemot area subsea facilities.

The production from the FPSO, which stopped in March 2025 because of issues that popped up in the aftermath of Storm Éowyn, is scheduled to resume this month.

As for the Western Isles FPSO, the vessel produced 36 million boe from two oil fields, Harris and Barra, located in the Northern North Sea, after which production was stopped in May 2024.

The FPSO was picked for the redevelopment of the Greater Buchan Area (GBA) back in 2023. However, Dana Petroleum terminated the agreement related to the proposed sale of the vessel in March 2025.

This follows the announcement of a possible takeover of Wood by Dar Al-Handasah Consultants Shair and Partners Holdings (Sidara). While Sidara was originally required to either announce a firm intention to make an offer for the company or announce that it does not intend to make an offer by March 24, 2025, the deadline has now been extended to May 15, 2025, according to Wood.