LONDON, July 14 (UPI) -- British energy company BP said it aims to coax 450 million barrels of oil from the North Sea even though London is asking for a higher levy on their yields.
BP said it plans to invest $4.8 billion to redevelop the Schiehallion and Loyal oilfields west of the Shetland Islands.
The investment comes as London increased the levy on oil production from 20 percent to 32 percent to the ire of energy companies.
A spokesman for the energy company was quoted by The Daily Telegraph in London as saying the value of projects on the regional continental shelf was lowered because of the tax increase.
"The tax increase certainly didn't make the decision any easier however the size and scale of this development means we are able to progress," the spokesman said.
BP's investment will target a new floating, production, storage and offloading vessel that could process up to 130,000 barrels of oil per day and store more than 1 million barrels of oil.
BP Chief Executive Officer Bob Dudley had said the company was committed to long-term development in the North Sea. BP gets about 7 percent of its total and natural gas production from the region.
