Premier Oil brings Shelley field on stream

Aug. 10, 2009
Premier PLC has begun producing 31° gravity oil at unspecified rates from the Paleocene Forties reservoir at Shelley field in the UK North Sea.

Uchenna Izundu
OGJ International Editor

LONDON, Aug. 10 -- Premier PLC has begun producing 31° gravity oil at unspecified rates from the Paleocene Forties reservoir at Shelley field in the UK North Sea.

The field has two horizontal production wells completed subsea with downhole electric submersible pumps. The wells are connected via a short flowline and a control umbilical to the Sevan Voyageur floating production, storage, and offloading vessel.

The company acquired a 100% interest in the field through its takeover of Oilexco North Sea Ltd. (ONSL) in May this year.

Simon Lockett, chief executive officer at Premier Oil, said: “Prior to Premier’s acquisition of ONSL, the development of the Shelley field had been stopped, and the contract with Sevan had been terminated. I am delighted that we have been able to negotiate a new contract with Sevan and, with the support of our key suppliers, restart the development, achieving first production so soon.”

When it reported its new contract for the Sevan Voyageur, Premier said Shelly oil production would exceed 30,000 b/d (OGJ Online, Apr. 21, 2009).

Shelley was discovered in 1984 by the 22/2-2 well. It is in 95 m of water about 40 km south of the Premier-operated Balmoral complex.

Contact Uchenna Izundu at [email protected].