Total expects production from Jura gas field in 2008

Uchenna Izundu
International Editor

LONDON, Mar. 28 -- Total SA reported that production from Jura gas-condensate field in the UK North Sea is expected to start in second quarter 2008.

The company will produce 45,000 boe/d at plateau and will connect the field via a 3-km pipeline to the Forvie North subsea wellhead, itself connected to the Alwyn North processing platform. "The additional output should enable the Alwyn facilities to continue producing at full capacity until early next decade," Total said.

Jura, discovered 4 months ago, holds more than 170 million boe of proved and probable reserves in the Alwyn area, 160 km east of the Shetland Islands and 440 km northeast of Aberdeen. The Alwyn area holds the Alwyn North, Dunbar, Ellon, Grant, and Nuggets fields.

Total is continuing exploration in the UK North Sea with an appraisal well on Kessog, a high-temperature, high-pressure field near Elgin Franklin, followed by another exploration well on the Jura East prospect.

Recent discoveries lifted Total's proved and probable reserves in the UK to over 1 billion boe in 2006.

Contact Uchenna Izundu at [email protected].