In July 2022, Kistos consolidated its position as a North Sea gas producer with the acquisition of several working interests in the Greater Laggan Area (GLA), west of Shetland. Our interests in these licences include 20% of the Laggan, Tormore, Edradour and Glenlivet producing gas fields, the onshore Shetland Gas Plant (SGP) and 20% of the Glendronach gas discovery. The licences are operated by TotalEnergies E&P UK Ltd.
This non-operated interest more than doubled our gas production capacity at the time and provided a foothold in the UK.
The GLA comprises four producing gas-condensate fields: Laggan, Tormore, Edradour and Glenlivet, as well as additional exploration licences. Kistos has a 20% non-operated working interest in the four producing fields, as well as the SGP and associated infrastructure, of which TotalEnergies is the operator. The SGP was purpose-built to process hydrocarbons produced from the GLA fields and is connected by a 140 km dual pipeline network. Commercial gas production from the Laggan and Tormore fields commenced in 2016, while Edradour and Glenlivet came onstream in 2017.
After processing, crude oil is transferred and stored at the nearby Sullom Voe Terminal until lifted, with wet gas exported to the St Fergus Gas Terminal in Scotland. Here, it is separated into dry gas and Net Gaseous Liquids (NGLs), with the gas entering the grid and NGLs (including propane and butane) exported to Braefoot Bay via a further pipeline ready for sale.
The Benriach exploration well was spudded in March 2023 by the Transocean Barents drilling rig. While the presence of gas-bearing sands in the target Royal Sovereign formation was confirmed, the resource was expected to be sub-commercial and a decision was taken to plug and abandon the well. Drilling concluded in June 2023.
In April 2024, we completed a further expansion and diversification with the purchase of EDF’s onshore gas storage assets, Hill Top Farm and Hole House, in Cheshire, UK. This transaction diversifies our presence across the energy value chain and both sites provides have the potential to be repurposed for the future storage of compressed air or hydrogen.
| Field or licence | Licence holder | Licence type | Status | Interest at 31 December 2023 |
| P911, P1159, P1195, P1453 and P1678 (Laggan, Tormore, Edradour and Glenlivet) | Kistos Energy Limited | Production | Non-operated | 20% |
| P2411 and P14534 (Benriach) | Kistos Energy Limited | Exploration | Non-operated | 25% |