A string of oil development and redevelopment projects was making news in the UK North Sea as 2010 began.
Examples of the most recent activity include Forties, Thistle, and Fyne oil fields, several nearby fields and discoveries, and Bentley and surrounding heavy oil fields in the Central North Sea.
Petrofac-Lundin combine
Petrofac PLC plans to combine its UK North Sea assets with Lundin Petroleum AB's to form a new company called EnQuest PLC.
Upon closing, EnQuest will be an independent production and development company focusing on the UK Continental Shelf. Petrofac shareholders will own 45% of EnQuest shares, and Lundin shareholders will own 55%.
EnQuest will start out with 80.5 million boe of proved and probable reserves, executives said.
The transaction remains subject to approval by Lundin and Petrofac stockholders and UK regulators. Lundin executives expect the transaction will be completed early in the second quarter of 2010.
Petrofac's board said Mar. 4 that it plans to demerge Petrofac Energy Developments Ltd. (PEDL) from Petrofac. PEDL holds Petrofac's UKCS assets.
PEDL's assets include a 27.7% interest in West Don field, 60% interest in Don Southwest field (of which 5% is held through PEDL subsidiary Petrofac Energy Development Oceania Ltd.), and 100% interest in the Elke oil discovery on Block 28/3 in the Central North Sea.
From Lundin, EnQuest will acquire interests in Heather, Broom, Thistle, and Deveron oil fields and the Peik, South West Heather, and Scolty discoveries.
Forties redevelopment
Apache Corp., Houston, will drill three exploration wells in 2010 around its Forties field redevelopment project, where it will employ a jack up and two platform rigs to drill 15 development wells.
Forties averaged 61,400 b/d of oil in 2009, up 2.5% on the year and the second year of increased output. The 35-year-old field was at 40,000 b/d when Apache purchased it in 2003. Last June, Apache said it had an inventory of 79 drilling targets at Forties.
Pipeline riser repairs on Bravo platform, now completed, reduced production in the 2009 fourth quarter. Apache drilled 17 wells and added 9,200 b/d of production last year.
Apache made the Maule discovery in the Forties area in the 2009 fourth quarter that it expects to place on production at 5,000 b/d by mid-2010.
Thistle redevelopment
Lundin has resumed drilling at Thistle field for the first time in more than 20 years.
Lundin identified a number of drilling and workover opportunities to recover a further 13.1 million boe in proved and probable reserves as the result of a 3D seismic survey shot in 2008. The program is expected to last several years.
Thistle field, under water injection, averaged 3,800 boe/d in calendar 2009. Three production wells and one workover are planned in 2010.
Thistle redevelopment, which includes the Deveron satellite 3 km west, follows a $170 million investment in the fabric and integrity of the asset. The investment included an $80 million reactivation and improvement of the platform rig, including installation of a top drive.
Thistle, mostly in Block 211/18a, went on production in 1978 from Middle Jurassic Brent Group sandstones at 9,000 ft. Redevelopment began in 2007. Deveron went on production in 1984.
Pipeline activation
Petrofac has begun transporting oil by pipeline from West Don and Don Southwest fields to the Lundin-operated Thistle platform 12 km south.
The fields, 150 km northeast of the Shetland Islands, had been producing into shuttle tankers loading from a single anchor leg mooring system using the Northern Producer floating production vessel.
At Thistle, Lundin installed a flexible riser hang-off platform to accommodate the pipeline. Thistle delivers oil into the Brent pipeline system.
With the pipeline available, Petrofac brought on stream the second production well at Don Southwest, a sidetrack of the P-02-DR2z well. Removal of the Transocean John Shaw semisubmersible drilling rig allowed a dive support vessel to complete water-injection tie-ins at the field. Injection has begun.
Petrofac has said it expects production from both fields to peak at more than 40,000 b/d.
The fields produce from Middle Jurassic Brent sandstones, at 3,200-3,400 m at West Don and 3,400-3,500 m at Don Southwest. Water depth in the area is about 500 ft.
Petrofac said the John Shaw will return in the second quarter for a second phase of Don Southwest drilling. It operates both fields and holds a 60% interest in Don Southwest and a 27.7% interest in West Don.
Fyne oil project
Antrim Energy Inc., Calgary, is moving toward development of Fyne oil field and nearby fields off eastern Scotland.
The company is talking with floating production, offloading, and storage vessel providers and with operators of production facilities in the area to determine transportation routes for Fyne production.
Antrim, operator of Block 21/28a with 75% interest, expects the field to produce 19,300 b/d of oil. It estimates Fyne reserves at 21 million bbl.
Initial development will be of the Fyne pool, which lies in 360 ft of water. Subsequent development will involve nearby Dandy field and the A4 discovery.
Fyne wells have been tested at rates of 3,600-4,000 b/d of sweet, medium-gravity oil from Eocene Tay sands encountered at 3,500-5,000 ft.
Antrim's partner in Block 21/28a is First Oil Expro Ltd. with 25% interest. Antrim holds 100% interests in three nearby blocks, which surround the Guillemot oil fields operated by Suncor, formerly Petro-Canada.
Bentley heavy oil
Xcite Energy Ltd., Aberdeenshire, UK, said Challenger Minerals (North Sea) Ltd. will provide $4 million of the cost of drilling the 9/3b-R well to earn a 4% working interest in Bentley heavy oil field in the UK North Sea.
The well is to be drilled in mid-2010. Bentley, with a mean resource of 160 million bbl, has 10-12° gravity crude with a large vacuum gasoil cut, low sulfur and low metals, and high aromatic and naphthenic content, in the Upper Paleocene Dornoch reservoir at 3,700 ft true vertical depth subsea.
Bentley and surrounding prospects are to be developed with fixed platforms in 113 m of water 100 miles east of the Shetland Islands. Production is to start at the end of 2013, and Bentley could be a candidate for an enhanced oil recovery project, Xcite said.
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