By the OGJ Online Staff
LONDON, June 24 -- Conoco UK Ltd. Monday received UK government approval for its £200 million Caister Murdoch III development of a cluster of five natural gas discoveries in the southern North Sea.
Conoco plans to tie back the 5-field complex -- Hawksley, McAdam, Murdoch K, Boulton H, and Watt -- through subsea wellheads to the existing Murdoch platform. From the platform, production will be transported 115 miles to the company's Theddlethorpe gas plant via the Caister Murdoch System.
First flow from the fields, estimated to hold 500 billion cu m of gas, is scheduled for late next year.
UK Energy Minister Brian Wilson said, "This investment by Conoco and its partners has been made possible by imaginative thinking and working in partnership. This is clearly the way forward for the UK Continental Shelf."
He added, "I particularly welcome the boost this will give to the whole supplier network in the UK, which will benefit from contract awards in a number of areas including drilling, pipelaying, specialist subsea equipment, and fabrication."
The five fields lie on Blocks 44/22a and 44/23a in the UK North Sea. Conoco is operator of Block 44/22a with a 54.5% stake. The other partners are Tullow Exploration Ltd. with 34% and GDF Britain Ltd. with 11.5%. Partners in Block 44/23a are Conoco (operator) with 30%, Consort Resources Ltd. with 49%, and Gaz de France SA with 21%.
