Southern North Sea – Operational Scenario Under Late-Life System Constraints

This document analyzes offshore gas production constraints in the Southern North Sea (UK–Netherlands), focusing on late-life infrastructure conditions in the Bacton terminal area. Unlike the Norwegian Continental Shelf, the dominant constraints are not allocation-based, but driven by physical and operational limitations of aging infrastructure, including: insufficient compression and entry pressure fragmented processing systems single-point failures (e.g. compressor trains) hydrate and MEG management constraints declining system integrity and approaching decommissioning timelines A modular, vessel-based gas transfer concept is evaluated as a parallel system layer that enables gas movement under these constraints without requiring new fixed infrastructure. Core characteristics: short-cycle shuttle operation (~20–24 h) decoupling of production and pipeline injection optional floating buffer storage for semi-continuous flow compatibility with existing vessel classes The system may: enable production under pressure and compression constraints reduce dependency on failing or limited infrastructure components extend the usable lifetime of existing pipeline systems provide flexible offtake options for marginal and late-life fields The Bacton area is used as a representative case, but the described constraints and potential solutions are applicable across multiple UK and Dutch offshore systems approaching late-life conditions.