PROPOSAL TO DEVELOP BIGGEST U.K. GAS/CONDENSATE FIELD TOPS ACTION OFF NORTHWEST EUROPE

Twelve companies led by units of Chevron Corp. and Conoco Inc. have taken the first steps toward development of Britain's biggest undeveloped gas/condensate reservoir.

In other North Sea news:

Elf U.K. plc started development studies for Franklin gas/condensate field in the U.K. North Sea.
Ranger Oil (U.K.) Ltd. onducted a high flowing test of its Block 23/27-9 appraisal well in the U.K. North Sea and is considering development options.
Dansk Undergrunds Consortium (DUC) rejected Danish government conditions for a two field oil and gas development project in the Danish North Sea, thus postponing work on the fields for 5 years.
Phillips Petroleum Co. Norway tested a high flowing Jurassic oil and gas strike in the Ekofisk area of the Norwegian North Sea.
Norsk Hydro AS let an $11 million contact to Westminster Offshore AS, Dusavik, Norway, to bury oil and gas transmission pipelines from its Brage platform in the Norwegian North Sea in spring 1993. A 12 in. oil pipeline will link the new development to Hydro's Oseberg field facilities 8 miles away. The 5 mile, 8 in. gas line will make a connection to the Statpipe system in Veslefrikk field. Westminster Offshore AS is a unit of Royal Boskalis Westminster NV, Netherlands.

GAS/CONDENSATE DEVELOPMENT

Kilda/Lapworth, renamed Britannia under the agreement naming Chevron U.K. Ltd. and Conoco (U.K.) Ltd. joint field operators, holds reserves estimated at 2.5-3 tcf of gas and 150200 million bbl of condensate.

Tentative plans call for bringing the field on stream in late 1997. Production is expected to peak at 750 MMcfd of gas and 50,000 b/d of condensate with a field life of 30 years.

The field, 130 miles northeast of Aberdeen, covers Blocks 11-D/29a, 15/30, 16/26, 16/27a North, and 16/27b.

The 12 companies with holdings in the five blocks signed a joint planning agreement under which they will share costs and field data, carry out joint studies, and prepare, budget, and plan for field development.

Chevron and Conoco, which operate blocks containing most of the field's reserves, said the agreement will bring the 12 partners into a forum in which they all can participate in decisions about field development.

Chevron and Conoco will carry out detailed design, construction, installation, and hook-up of field facilities through a joint project management team.

But certain development and production responsibilities will be allotted to each operator. Chevron will be responsible for geophysics/geology, reservoir engineering, drilling, and equity determination, while Conoco will handle conceptual and preliminary engineering, safety management, production operations, and commercial activities including transportation and marketing.

Conceptual engineering is expected to be complete by the fall, and a final development plan will go to the U.K. Department of Energy for approval in early 1994.

Chevron/Conoco said immediate plans for Britannia include further appraisal drilling and completion of an extensive 3-D seismic program that began in July 1991 and is to end this summer. Two exploratory wells and 16 appraisals have been drilled on the structure.

The lower Cretaceous reservoir, at a depth of about 13,000 ft, extends 25 miles east to west and 6 miles north to south. The Lower Cretaceous sandstone reservoir is at about 13,000 ft.

Interests break out as Block 15/29a Texaco North Sea 75% and Conoco 25%, Block 15/30 Conoco 66.67% and Chevron 33.33%, Block 16/26 Chevron 33.17%, Conoco 16.68%, Oryx Energy Co. 15.5%, Petrofina SA 12.65%, Santa Fe Oil & Gas 11.75%, Unilond/Baytrust 8%, and Amerada Hess Ltd. 2.25%, Block 16/27a North Phillips Petroleum Co. U.K. Ltd. 35%, Fina 30%, Agip U.K. Ltd 17.88%, British Gas plc 8.6%, and Lasmo North Sea 8.52%, and Block 16/27b Chevron 35.75%, Conoco 14%, Fina 26%, Santa Fe 10%, Unilon 8%, and Amerada 6.25%.

FRANKLIN DEVELOPMENT

Elf's development options for Franklin, on Block 29/5b, include a joint project with other nearby discoveries.

The second appraisal in the field tested 8.2 MMcfd of gas and 461 b/d of condensate on a 36/64 in. choke to confirm the extent of gas bearing Fulmar sands.

Ranger Oil (U.K.) Ltd., a partner in the block, estimates reserves at 700-800 bcf of gas and 70-80 million bbl of condensate.

Other partners are Amerada Hess, BG United Kingdom Inc., British Gas Exploration & Development, Fina Petroleum Development Ltd., and Union Jack Oil plc.

RANGER'S ACTIVITY

Ranger 23127-9 tested a combined 13,194 b/d of 38 gravity crude and 10.3 MMcfd of gas from two zones.

The company earlier tested 3,000 b/d from its 23/27-3 well and 6,200 b/d from the 23/27-8.

Development options for the field, to be named Pierce, include a floating production system preceded by a long term production test.

The Ranger acreage lies between BP Exploration's Machar diapir prospect and Phillips Norway's Cod field just inside the Norwegian median line.

Partners in Block 23/27 are Ranger 20%, Enterprise 40%, Lasmo 36.25%, and Santos Ltd. unit Peko Exploration (U.K.) Ltd 3.75%.

DUC ACTION

Maersk Oil & Gas AS, on behalf of DUC, had submitted plans to develop Harald and Svend fields in northern Danish waters with a fast track development scheme that included a 52 mile, 16 in. multiphase flow pipeline.

Start-up under this proposal would have been in 1993.

In approving the project, the government, under pressure from socialist opposition parties, insisted operatorship of the pipeline should pass to the state after 1999 following appropriate payment.

DUC said the condition was unacceptable and it will revert to the original development plan, which calls for a 1989-99 start-up.

The multiphase flow line would have transported as much as 25,000 b/d of liquids and 390 MMcfd of gas to the Tyra East production facilities via a new development planned for Valdemar field.

Development of Valdemar, close to Tyra, will proceed with an unmanned platform for two horizontal wells.

The original development plan for Harald and Svend calls for an oil pipeline to Gorm oil field and a separate gas pipeline to Tyra.

DUC had made small investments in design and front end engineering for Harald and Svend but had not ordered equipment.

Teams working on the field developments have been transferred to other work.

NORWEGIAN STRIKE

Phillips 2/4-17 discovery, about 5 miles northwest of Tor platform 2/4e tested 4,870 b/d of 45.4 gravity crude and 30 MMcfd of gas through a 40/64 in. choke with 5,921 psi wellhead pressure from Jurassic sands at 14,242-395 ft.

Total true vertical depth of the wildcat, drilled in 221 ft of water, is 17,100 ft. Phillips, operator of Production License 18, has moved the Maersk Guardian rig to drill the 2/7-28 exploratory well.

Phillips recently completed a 3-D seismic survey as part of an effort to explore below the productive chalk in the Ekofisk area.

Phillips is proceeding with Embla field development, its first deep Jurassic hydrocarbon find in the area.

Interests in the discovery are held by Phillips 36.96%, Norske Fina AS 30%, Norsk Agip As 13.04%, Elf Aquitaine Norge AS 7.594%, Norsk Hydro Produksjoin AS 6.7%, Total Norge AS 3.547%, Den norske stats oljeselskap 1%, Elf Rep Norge AS 0.456%, Elf Rex. Norge AS 0.399%, and Norminal AS 0.304%.