Mittelplate field offshore Germany gets land base

Jan. 28, 2013
RWE Dea AG, Hamburg, has inaugurated a two-unit land base to serve the artificial drilling and production island on Mittelplate oil field in the Wadden Sea tidelands of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany.

RWE Dea AG, Hamburg, has inaugurated a two-unit land base to serve the artificial drilling and production island on Mittelplate oil field in the Wadden Sea tidelands of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany.

Mittelplate, Germany’s largest oil field, produced 1.4 million tonnes of crude oil in 2011. RWE Dea, the operator, estimates the field has produced more than 27 million tonnes of crude since coming on stream in 1987, with 23 million tonnes still in place and considered commercially recoverable.

One unit of the new land base, at Helgolander Kai, will handle daily supplies for the drilling and production island. The other unit, at Neuer Fischereihafen, will store pipes and rig parts.

The Mittelplate island sits 7 km offshore Friedrichskoog in the Wattenmeer tidal flats. Eighteen wells drilled from it to depths as great as 3,000 m, some horizontal, produce from the western and larger part of the field. A closed waste-disposal system prevents contamination of the sensitive tidelands.

Since 2000, the eastern part of the field has produced through extended-reach wells drilled from land with total lengths of 7,727-9,275 m.

RWE Dea and Wintershall Holding GMBH each holds a 50% interest. EnTec Industrial Services GMBH & Co. KG, Cuxhaven, built the land base.