North Sea operators start up satellites

Operators off Norway and the U.K. continue to bring on stream small satellite field developments, with three start-ups just announced.

Norway's Statoil AS began production from Gullveig, one of three satellites of Gullfaks A platform on Norwegian North Sea Block 34/10 being developed under a 4.8 billion kroner ($660 million) combined program.

Elsewhere off Norway, Statoil brought Sleipner A platform back into production after a fire.

Meanwhile, in the U.K. sector, Amerada Hess Ltd. started up Flora field, and ARCO British Ltd. began production in Deben and neared completion of Bure West development.

In other U.K. action, Mobil North Sea Ltd. started up a new compressor at the Bacton terminal in Norfolk for Lancelot area gas production.

Gullfaks satellites

Saga Petroleum AS, partner in Stat- oil's Gullfaks satellites project, said the Gullveig, Gullfaks South, and Rimfaks fields have combined reserves of 354 million bbl of oil and condensate.

Gullveig is the smallest of the three and is producing 5,000 b/d. Gullfaks South and Rimfaks are both due on stream next year and are expected to take combined output to 100,000 b/d of liquids.

Beginning in fall 2001, Statoil will begin gas production from the Gullfaks satellites, starting with Gullfaks South field, which is expected to deliver up to 4.8 billion cu m/year of gas.

Gas from the satellites will be delivered to the Gullfaks platforms for export via the Statpipe/Norpipe trunkline system. Gullfaks license partners are operator Statoil 85%, Norsk Hydro 9%, and Saga 6%.

Sleipner fire

Statoil resumed gas production from Sleipner A platform off Norway on Oct. 29 after the installation was shut in following a fire on Oct. 18. Sleipner A output was expected to return to 24 million cu m/day of gas and 106,000 b/d of condensate within a couple of days.

Production was resumed before repairs were completed. Statoil said a diesel oil leak could have caused the fire, after spilling onto exhaust pipes on a power plant.

Flora

Amerada's Flora field lies on U.K. Blocks 31/26a and 31/26c and was developed as a subsea satellite of the Uisge Gorm production, storage, and offloading ship.

The vessel is moored in Fife field 8.5 km south of Flora, where it is producing about 26,000 b/d of oil from Fife and nearby Fergus fields. Flora is expected to yield 20,000 b/d of oil at peak.

Flora license partners are operator Amerada 85% and Premier Oil plc, London, 15%. Amerada said the field produced first oil just 15 months after it was discovered and 5 months after development approval by the U.K. Department of Trade and Industry.

ARCO started gas production from Deben field in late October and was at the time ready to begin production from Bure West.

Development of the two fields cost £49 million ($83 million). Both fields were developed as single-well subsea satellites of a new minimal facilities platform added to ARCO's Thames field complex on Block 49/28.

Deben has estimated reserves of 33 bcf of gas, which ARCO aims to deplete over 5 years at a peak rate of 37 MMcfd. Bure West reserves are estimated at 31 bcf of gas, with production expected to last 5 years and peak at 40 MMcfd.

The new platform was built to the Sea Harvester design. Deben and Bure West partners are operator ARCO 43.3%, Agip (U.K.) Ltd. 23.3%, Mobil Corp unit. Superior Oil Ltd. 23.3%, and Deminex U.K. Ltd. 10%.

Bacton work

Mobil installed a £34 million ($58 million) compressor unit at Bacton terminal, where Phillips Petroleum Co. U.K. Ltd. is the operator, to maintain production from its Lancelot area fields in coming years as pressure in the reservoir falls.

Mobil said the unit is the first in the U.K. in which the compressor and gas turbine use a catalytic converter to convert carbon monoxide to carbon dioxide, to reduce the effect on air quality.