Dana Petroleum, Aberdeen, and Cieco Exploration & Production UK Ltd., London, have received government approval for the $1.6 billion Western Isles development project in the northern UK North Sea (OGJ Online, July 12, 2012).
The project will develop Harris and Barra oil fields, which lie in 165 m of water 160 km east of Shetland and 12 km west of Tern oil field. Reservoir depths are about 6,000 ft.
Dana, operator with 76.92% interest, expects production to start at the end of 2015 and to peak at 40,000 boe/d from reserves estimated at 45 million boe.
Development will involve drilling of five production wells and four water-injection wells and installation of two eight-slot subsea production manifolds and associated flowlines.
Commingled reservoir fluids will flow to a newbuild floating production, storage, and offloading vessel to be built by Cosco Group, Beijing, and owned by Dana and Cieco.
The companies plan as many as three more exploratory wells.
The fields are 5 km south of Hudson oil field, which Dana operates with a 47.5% interest in partnership with TAQA, 26.7%, and Cieco, 25.8%. Current Hudson production is 4,000 b/d.
Cieco, a wholly owned subsidiary of Itochu Corp., Tokyo, holds a 23.08% interest in the Western Isles project.