SHELL-ESSO COMBINE TO DEVELOP NORTH SEA SOUTHERN GAS BASIN FIELD

Jan. 9, 1995
Shell U.K. Exploration & Production (Shell Expro) has won U.K. Department of Trade & Industry approval to develop Schooner field in the southern gas basin of the North Sea. Schooner, in Block 44/26a, will be developed at a cost of 262 million ($393 million) by means of a not normally manned platform, with gas exports via the Caister/Murdoch pipeline system to the Theddlethorpe, England, terminal.

Shell U.K. Exploration & Production (Shell Expro) has won U.K. Department of Trade & Industry approval to develop Schooner field in the southern gas basin of the North Sea.

Schooner, in Block 44/26a, will be developed at a cost of 262 million ($393 million) by means of a not normally manned platform, with gas exports via the Caister/Murdoch pipeline system to the Theddlethorpe, England, terminal.

Shell Expro, operating company for the Shell U.K. Ltd.-Esso Exploration & Production Ltd. combine, estimates Schooner reserves at 550 bcf of gas in a Carboniferous reservoir 13,000 ft below the seabed, the deepest gas strike the company has developed.

The field is to begin production in October 1996, with output up to 150 MMcfd. The Schooner platform will be a 12 well slot structure made up of a 2,200 metric ton, four leg, steel jacket and a 1,400 metric ton topsides module.

A $45 million ($52..5 million) engineering, procurement, fabrication, and installation contract for the platform was let last August to Heerema Havenbedrijf BV of Netherlands.

The jacket will be installed during second quarter 1995 to allow drilling of five development wells. Four more development wells will be drilled during the field's live, including a subsea satellite well 8 1/2 km away to tap the northern end of the field.

The topsides will be installed in mid-1996. A wet gas metering system will be installed to help reduce topsides weight and keep down costs.

"The gas stream will be metered to a high level of accuracy using flow line venturi measurements continuously corrected for wet gas effects," Sell-Esso said.

"The technique, developed by Shell Expro, is being applied in the North Sea for the first time on the Schooner platform."

Schooner gas will move through a 16 in. 28 km pipeline to Murdoch platform, operated by Conoco (U.K.) Ltd. From Murdoch, gas will be sent ashore to Theddlethorpe terminal, also operated by Conoco (OGJ, Oct. 18, 1993, p. 30).

Schooner field partners are Shell-Esso 93.1%, Amoco (U.K.) Exploration Co. 4.83%, Sovereign Exploration Ltd. 1.38%, and Seafield Resources plc 0.69%.

Shell-Esso's share of gas is to be sold to power generator Eastern Electricity plc and to Shall-Esso gas marketing company Quadrant Gas Ltd. Seafield also will sell its Schooner stake to Eastern Electricity, pending government approval. Other partners plan to sell their gas to other buyers.

Copyright 1995 Oil & Gas Journal. All Rights Reserved.