By the OGJ Online Staff
HOUSTON, Dec. 5 -- Kerr-McGee Corp. said it made three discoveries on its Block 9/23a in the UK North Sea this fall.
Tullich field has reserves of 35-40 million boe, said Kerr-McGee. Satellite fields are Blue Sky and Blue Sky 2.
The block is immediately south of Kerr-McGee-operated Gryphon field Gryphon field and east of the Harding field, in which Kerr-McGee holds 25% interest.
The company plans to develop Tullich as a subsea tieback to the Gryphon floating production, storage, and offloading facility, with first production in 2003. It is evaluating development options for Blue Sky and Blue Sky 2.
"These tiebacks demonstrate the value of our infrastructure in Quadrant 9, where we have interests in four producing fields -- Gryphon, Leadon, Harding, and Buckland -- as well as the Skene development due to come on-line next year," said Luke R. Corbett, Kerr-McGee chairman and CEO.
Also in Quadrant 9, development has been sanctioned for the Maclure field, which will be another subsea tieback to the Gryphon facility. In connection with the Maclure development, a gas pipeline system linking the Gryphon, Leadon, and Beryl fields is planned.
These plans will increase the ability of the Gryphon and Leadon FPSOs to serve as infrastructure hubs for the area, said Kerr-McGee.
The company said it has also made a discovery in the US Gulf of Mexico on Garden Banks 244, south of its Northwestern field. It is drilling several other gulf wells, including one in Hornet prospect in 3,700 ft of water on Green Canyon Block 379 and one in Merganser prospect in 7,800 ft of water on Atwater Valley Block 36.
