Maersk Oil to halt Tyra field production in 2018

Maersk Oil, a wholly owned subsidiary of AP Moller-Maersk AS of Copenhagen, says it will shutter production from Tyra field of the Danish North Sea in October 2018, citing the absence of an economically viable solution for full recovery of the field’s remaining resources.

“The Tyra facilities are approaching the end of their operational life, and, together with our partners in [the Danish Underground Consortium (DUC)], we have assessed solutions for safe decommissioning and possible rebuilding of the Tyra facilities,” said Martin Rune Pedersen, Maersk Oil chief operating officer.

Maersk says the facilities cannot safely continue production due to new knowledge on storm wave impact, along with subsidence of the underground chalk reservoir that reduces the gap between the platforms and the sea. More than $140 million has been spent on reinforcing the Tyra structures over the past 15 years.

“In January 2017 we will have to reallocate resources from Tyra rebuild planning to engineering work for a detailed plan to discontinue the Tyra field as the Danish hub for gas processing,” said Martin Rune Pedersen, Maersk Oil chief operating officer.

Producing since 1984, Tyra is Denmark’s largest gas field. Its facilities are the processing and export center for all gas produced by DUC. More than 90% of Denmark’s gas production is processed through the facilities, Maersk says.

Tyra East and Tyra West also are hubs for a number of smaller facilities for Tyra field, including the neighboring unmanned facility, Tyra Southeast, which was extended in 2015 (OGJ Online, Mar. 31, 2015).

Tyra field is operated by Maersk Oil on behalf of DUC, a partnership of AP Moller–Maersk with 31.2% interest, Royal Dutch Shell PLC 36.8%, Danish state-run Nordsofonden 20%, and Chevron Corp. 12%.