It’s the latest sign of a mini renaissance in the region’s oil industry, as major divestment programs by big oil companies have attracted new players and investment. Meanwhile, giants like BP have turned their attention to the region west of the Shetland Islands—a remote North Sea archipelago—where the company’s newest project is located. Once thought too difficult to develop, it’s now a key area of growth for the U.K. For instance, the Clair Ridge development is part of a field that was first discovered in 1977—an estimated 7 billion barrel whale that for years proved too challenging and costly to exploit. It took until 2005 for the first project on the field to start producing, with the latest stage of development approved in 2011. BP and its partners— Royal Dutch Shell PLC, Chevron Corp. and ConocoPhillips—poured more than $5.8 billion into expanding the field’s output. Clair Ridge is expected […]