Amerada disappointed by new U.K. fields

Amerada Hess Ltd. has lowered its estimate of reserves in U.K. North Sea Durward and Dauntless fields, following disappointing early production. The operator brought Block 21/16 Durward and Block 21/11 Dauntless fields on stream in August 1997 with a production, storage, and offloading ship moored halfway between subsea manifolds in the two fields. Amerada said it was known at the outset that early production data would be required to determine fully the amount of oil ultimately recoverable

Jan. 5, 1998

2 min read

Amerada Hess Ltd. has lowered its estimate of reserves in U.K. North Sea Durward and Dauntless fields, following disappointing early production.

The operator brought Block 21/16 Durward and Block 21/11 Dauntless fields on stream in August 1997 with a production, storage, and offloading ship moored halfway between subsea manifolds in the two fields.

Amerada said it was known at the outset that early production data would be required to determine fully the amount of oil ultimately recoverable from the two fields.

Lower estimate

Now the operator says combined reserves could be as low as 11-20 million bbl of oil-"towards the bottom end of the range originally anticipated"-rather than the 43 million bbl expected at start-up (OGJ, Sept. 1, 1997, p. 32).

Durward/Dauntless production is currently more than 30,000 b/d of oil. Amerada says water injection, which began in October, has not yet been fully reflected in output, while gas lift is expected to begin in mid-1998.

The operator also plans to drill a well into the northern part of Durward field in first quarter 1998, to reach reserves not accessible through existing wells, while several nearby prospects may prove to be potential tie-backs for the production ship.

Durward/Dauntless partners are: operator Amerada 28%, Saga Petroleum (U.K.) Ltd. 23.5%, DSM Energy (U.K.) Ltd. 20%, British-Borneo Petroleum Syndicate plc 18.5%, and Seafield Resources plc 10%.

Saga said it expects to write down the book value of Durward/Dauntless by $50-60 million, depending on further assessment by Amerada, having originally valued the asset at $73.8 million in August 1997.