EnQuest PLC and MOL Growest (II) Ltd. have started oil production from the Scolty and Crathes light oil accumulations in the central North Sea, 160 km northeast of Aberdeen.
The development plan consists of two horizontal wells tied back 25 km via subsea pipeline in a “daisy chain” fashion to the Kittiwake platform in the Greater Kittiwake Area, EnQuest said in a media release. Oil from Scolty and Crathes will be exported via the Forties Pipeline System.
The fields are estimated to hold as much as 15 million bbl of gross oil technical reserves. Enquest and MOL each hold 50% interest. Scolty was discovered in 2007 by Lundin Petroleum AB and Crathes in 2011 by EnQuest.
Amjad Bseisu, EnQuest chief executive officer, noted the launch came about a year after the field development plan (FDP) was approved and the project was sanctioned.
“This was the only offshore pure oil FDP approval in the UK North Sea in 2015,” he said. “Unit operating costs are expected to be under $15/bbl in the initial peak volume years and production is anticipated to continue until 2025.
“The realization of the potential of these small pools has been enabled by cost efficiency, technology application, and solid delivery,” Bseisu explained. “The [UK] Oil and Gas Authority was set up to enable Maximizing Economic Recovery (MER) of oil and gas in the UK and Scolty-Crathes is an excellent example of MER being put into practice.”
Andy Samuel, chief executive of the Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) said, “This has unlocked the economic recovery of a small pools development and sustains the wider Greater Kittiwake Area and infrastructure.”
Enquest says Scolty-Crathes is a key component in its hub model for Kittiwake, extending the economic life of the Greater Kittiwake Area “well into the next decade.” EnQuest also holds 50% interest in the Greater Kittiwake Area.
