DEPLETED FIELDS UNDER SCORE MATURITY OF NORTH SEA PRODUCING PROVINCE

Several field abandonments this year have accented the North Sea's advancing age as an oil and gas producing region. Operations off Northwest Europe passed a milestone with abandonment of Argyll field, the first oil field placed on stream in the North Sea. Operated by Hamilton Oil Co. Ltd., London, Argyll in Block 30/24 was abandoned last January. It went on production in 1975, using the world's first floating production system (OGJ, Feb. 1, p. 23).

Nov. 1, 1993

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Several field abandonments this year have accented the North Sea's advancing age as an oil and gas producing region.

Operations off Northwest Europe passed a milestone with abandonment of Argyll field, the first oil field placed on stream in the North Sea.

Operated by Hamilton Oil Co. Ltd., London, Argyll in Block 30/24 was abandoned last January. It went on production in 1975, using the world's first floating production system (OGJ, Feb. 1, p. 23).

Hamilton also became the first U.K. operator to abandon a North Sea gas field, when the Forbes field platform was removed using the Stanislav Udin crane vessel. Production from the Block 43/Sa field came to a halt last February.

In addition, Amerada Hess Ltd. ceased production June 27 from Angus field in the U.K. sector. The Petrojarl 1 production vessel moved north to Hudson field on Block 210/24a. Contractor Stena Offshore Ltd., Aberdeen, began abandonment of the three Angus field wells in October using the Stena Seawell multipurpose vessel.

On May 8, Elf Aquitaine Norge AS halted production from Northeast Frigg gas field, making it the first abandonment on the Norwegian shelf. The field went on stream in 1983, using subsea completions tied back to an unmanned articulated tower remotely controlled from Frigg's TCP-2 platform.

Northeast Frigg yielded 410 bcf of gas during 10 years.

Elf initially planned to dismantle the template on site and dump the control tower in a deep fjord along the Norwegian coast. This plan was blocked by government. An approved abandonment plan has vet to be completed.