TAQA Bratani, a wholly owned subsidiary of Abu Dhabi National Energy Co. PJSC (TAQA), will assume operatorship of the Greater Brae Area in the UK central North Sea from RockRose Energy plc subject approval by the Secretary of State.
The transfer follows court proceedings brought by TAQA and joint venture partners JX Nippon and Spirit Energy in December 2019 related to the notice of discharge served on Marathon Oil UK (MOUK), as operator. There is no strategic or financial consequence as no partner under a Joint Operating Agreement can benefit from being operator, RockRose said.
The notice of discharge was served on MOUK prior to its acquisition by RockRose in July 2019 (OGJ Online, Feb. 25, 2019).
A drilling program is currently ongoing at West Brae and RockRose will work with TAQA during the transition process, the company said in a press statement. Designated WPGZ and WPOZ, these wells are designed to access 2P reserves of over 8 MMbbl (gross) and to support Brae Complex output by up to 6,000 b/d of oil (gross). WPGZ is expected to come onstream by the end of this year’s first quarter while first oil from WPOZ is expected in the year’s second quarter. Handover is expected to be completed in this year’s second half.
Since closing of the Marathon acquisition, RockRose said it and its Brae Area JV partners have increased the asset’s reserves, extended cessation of production at Brae Alpha by at least 3 years to 2030; extended cessation of production at East Brae by 2 years to 2023; and de-manned the Brae Bravo platform after disconnecting it from the remaining Brae field facilities.