U.K. offshore operators slate 45 developments

U.K. offshore operators have a total of 45 offshore oil and gas discoveries for which development plans may be submitted in the near future. This is the finding of Wood Mackenzie Consultants Ltd., Edinburgh, which says the 45 prospects have combined reserves of 1.54 billion bbl of oil and 5.5 tcf of gas. Fifteen fields received development approval from the U.K. Department of Trade and Industry in 1997-98, with combined reserves estimated at 620 million boe. Fifteen new finds were added to the

Sept. 28, 1998

2 min read

U.K. offshore operators have a total of 45 offshore oil and gas discoveries for which development plans may be submitted in the near future.

This is the finding of Wood Mackenzie Consultants Ltd., Edinburgh, which says the 45 prospects have combined reserves of 1.54 billion bbl of oil and 5.5 tcf of gas. Fifteen fields received development approval from the U.K. Department of Trade and Industry in 1997-98, with combined reserves estimated at 620 million boe.

Fifteen new finds were added to the potential developments list in the meantime, with combined estimated reserves of 965 million boe.

Development options

"The use of subsea technology continues to be the most popular development option," said Wood Mackenzie, "with 24 prospects expected to utilize this technology.

"However, the anticipated use of FPSOs (floating production, storage, and offloading systems) within the probable portfolio has been reduced for the third consecutive year, with only five fields expected to employ this development method."

The 45 identified prospects are expected to require a total capital outlay of £6.7 billion ($11.2 billion). They are expected to produce a total 575,000 b/d of oil and 1.7 bcfd of gas at peak.

"Unfortunately," said Wood Mac- kenzie, "while the number of prospects within the portfolio has not significantly been reduced in recent years, there have been insufficient new discoveries of the required size to replace the ones that have been developed. Indeed, the average probable development size of just more than 50 million boe for 1998 compares with an average of almost 100 million boe in 1994.

"The size of reserves discovered in the U.K. during this period has fallen significantly and is in no way close to replacing reserves produced, an issue which is driving much of the industry to frontier exploration areas such as the Atlantic Margin."