Shell ups British OCS stake

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LONDON, Oct. 25 (UPI) -- Shell announced it was increasing its role on the British continental shelf with the acquisition of the Beryl area fields from Hess Corp.

Shell said it signed an agreement with Hess to acquire its stake in the Beryl area fields for $525 million.

The region includes 12 fields on the British continental shelf. Hess said they yielded around 14,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day for the first nine months of the year.

Greg Hill, president of global exploration and production for Hess, said in a statement that the sale to Shell was part of a "strategic portfolio reshaping."

Shell said oil production in the region has a far longer duration that rival companies expected. The company said the area may continue producing for the next 20 years and the acquisition should increase Shell's regional production by as much as 24,000 boe per day.

The fields are operated by Apache. The company in May said a production rate of 11,625 bpd and 13.1 million cubic feet of natural gas per day was achieved from the Beryl-1 reservoir.