The development of the Alba oil field will constitute two North Sea firsts: the first Eocene reservoir developed, and the first development to handle heavy crude.
The field was discovered in Block 16/26 of the North Sea's U.K. sector in 1984.
The Alba field is in the heart of the North Sea, about midway between the northern fields of the East Shetlands basin and the southern Fulmar and Argyll fields. About 250 million bbl of the estimated 1 billion bbl reservoir of 20' gravity crude is believed recoverable (see Table 1 for distillation data).
Partners in Block 16/26 are Chevron U.K. Ltd., Amerada Hess Ltd., Aran Energy Exploration Ltd., Clyde Petroleum plc, Conoco (U.K.) Ltd., Fina Petroleum Development Ltd., Oryx Energy Co., Phillips Petroleum Co. U.K. Ltd., Santa Fe Exploration (U.K.) Ltd., and Unilon Oil Explorations Ltd./Baytrust Oil Explorations Ltd.
The Alba group plans a two-phase development of the field at a cost of about 750 million ($1.18 billion). An eight-leg steel drilling and production platform will be installed on the northern part of the field in the first phase. The unit will come on stream in 1993 at 60,000-70,000 b/d, building to a peak output of 100,000 b/d.
A second platform is scheduled for start-up in the southern end of the field in 1999. The southern platform is expected to be larger than the northern unit.
Chevron's development plan takes into account the following difficulties: the unconsolidated reservoir sands and underlying water, the shallowness of the reservoir and requirements for highly deviated wells, and a low-energy reservoir requiring artificial lift and water injection from the outset.
The horizontal drilling demanded by the shallow reservoir will make the required gravel pack installation difficult. The first phase of development will provide experience in production from shallow Eocene sands at 6,000 ft.
Alba crude will be transported from a floating storage unit, says Chevron.
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