JOG goes back to the future

A field already in decommissioning holds no fears for the North Sea newcomer’s bold regional plans

UK independent Jersey Oil and Gas (JOG) has an intriguing proposition—putting 21st century infrastructure on a 20th century Central North Sea (CNS) field. But its plans are more than that initiative, also encapsulating an area hub concept and collaboration, as well as a laser focus on ESG. At the core of JOG’s plans is the CNS Buchan field, which began production in 1981 under BP’s operatorship and continued to flow oil —148mn bl of it—until 2017, when the original facilities failed safety tests. Then owned by a joint venture between Spain’s Repsol and China’s Sinopec, the decision was taken to permanently shut down production and decommission its facilities. Meanwhile, in the downturn that