RWE Dea UK has started production from Clipper South natural gas field in the UK North Sea.
Bayerngas UK, a 25% partner, said production has begun from a horizontal well drilled into a tight Lower Permian Rotliengendes sandstone encountered at 2,500 m below the seabed in 24 m of water.
Fairfield Acer Ltd., another 25% partner, said initial gross production from well 48/19a-C1 was 43 MMscfd. Peak field production will be 100 MMscfd, Fairfield said.
RWE Dea UK, the operator with a 50% interest, in February said it plans to drill and hydraulically fracture as many as five horizontal Clipper South wells.
The field, discovered in 1982, is on UKCS Blocks 48/19 and 48/20, 60 miles offshore Lincolnshire. It has an estimated 500 bcf of natural gas in place.
Production flows through a new, temporarily staffed wellhead platform linked to the Lincolnshire Offshore Gas Gathering System and Theddlethorpe terminal. Bayerngas estimated production life at 15 years.