Uchenna Izundu
International Editor
ABERDEEN, Nov. 10 -- Total E&P UK PLC is considering two development options for Laggan gas field west of the Shetland Islands in the North Atlantic, according to Gilles Halle, Total E&P UK development and planning manager.
At an event called Share Fair by the government-industry PILOT initiative in Aberdeen, Halle told OGJ the company plans to start gas production by 2010 and will choose a development scheme by first-quarter 2007.
The options it's considering are a subsea system and a tension-leg platform. The field lies in 600 m of water 120 off the islands. At present, Total favors the subsea option because of harsh field conditions.
One of two Laggan appraisal wells tested gas at 37.8 MMcfd (OGJ, Sept. 22, 2004, Newsletter).
Halle said Total plans to let an engineering, procurement, installation, and commissioning contract for Laggan work by the end of 2007. He said Total also will drill an exploratory well west of the Shetlands next year.
Total holds a 50% interest in Laggan. Partners are Dong Norge AS, ENI UKCS Ltd., and Texaco Britain Ltd.
Task force
The deep water and harsh conditions of the West of Shetlands area have dampened activity.
The UK Department for Trade and Industry has formed a task force with other companies with West of Shetlands interests—Chevron Corp., ExxonMobil Corp., BP PLC, Total, and DONG—to examine how they might work together to establish infrastructure to encourage activity.
BP operates Clair oil and gas field, which began production in February 2005 about 47 miles west of Shetland in 140 m of water (OGJ, Mar. 7, 2005, p. 9). Plateau production is expected to be 60,000 b/d and 15 MMcfd of gas. Clair interests are BP 28.6%, ConocoPhillips 24.0%, Chevron 19.4%, Shell 18.7%, and Amerada Hess 9.3%.
In 2004, Chevron and its partners, Statoil and DONG, encountered two oil and gas zones with 171 ft of net pay on the Rosebank-Lochnagar prospect (OGJ Online, Aug. 24, 2005).
The Shetlands task force met for the first time last week for talks chaired by UK Energy Minister Malcolm Wicks. The task force will present Wicks its findings by the end of the year on constructing a gas pipeline.
The West of the Shetlands area holds 3-4 billion bbl of technically recoverable oil and gas equivalent.
Contact Uchenna Izundu at [email protected].
