Watching the World

With David Knott from London [email protected] At a Shell U.K. Exploration & Production presentation in mid-November, the night before a visit by journalists to the U.K. North Sea Brent field, we were shown an amazing slide. It was entitled: "Biggest U.K. oil fields by remaining oil equivalent at Jan. 1, 1996." To my surprise, Brent field was largest, way ahead of Britannia, Schiehallion, Foinaven, or any other field under development or producing.

Nov. 25, 1996

3 min read

WithDavid Knott from London
[email protected]

At a Shell U.K. Exploration & Production presentation in mid-November, the night before a visit by journalists to the U.K. North Sea Brent field, we were shown an amazing slide.

It was entitled: "Biggest U.K. oil fields by remaining oil equivalent at Jan. 1, 1996." To my surprise, Brent field was largest, way ahead of Britannia, Schiehallion, Foinaven, or any other field under development or producing.

What was so amazing was that Brent field had celebrated its 20th year of oil production on Oct. 21. And Brent still has years of life to come as a major producer.

Walter van de Vijver, Brent field general manager, said, "Things have turned out better than we predicted. From 3.3 billion bbl oil equivalent (BOE) original reserves, more than 1 billion BOE remains. Production is currently 200,000 b/d of oil and 500 MMcfd of gas.

"Even after 20 years of production, Brent is still the biggest U.K. field in terms of remaining reserves and production. We have also managed to increase reserves by 730 million BOE over the last 5 years."

Refurbishment

Under a 7#163;1.3 billion ($1.95 billion) project, the Shell U.K. Ltd./Esso Exploration & Production U.K. Ltd. combine is revamping Brent's four platforms (OGJ, Apr. 12, 1993, p. 28).

So far, Shell/Esso has refurbished Brent Bravo and Charlie platforms. Delta platform will be shut down next year for installation of a new accommodation module, process plant, and flare tower.

Although Brent has been Britain's biggest oil producer for a long time, its future is as a gas producer. Once the platforms have been refurbished, reservoir depressurization will be started to squeeze out remaining oil.

"After 20 years in production, oil output is in decline," said van de Vij- ver. "We are fighting this as much as we can, but we are planning to sell more gas in future than we do today."

Shell/Esso has a 20-year contract in place to provide 500 MMcfd of Brent gas to British Gas plc. This expires at the end of September 2002.

Gas future

Validity of this contract is being questioned in the courts by British Gas, because it maintains a high price for Brent gas compared with spot market prices in a liberalized U.K. gas market (OGJ, Dec. 11, p. 30).

"Now the question is what happens beyond 2002," said van de Vij- ver. "We hope to increase gas production from 500 MMcfd to 600 MMcfd, but there is no activity on the negotiating front.

"British Gas says, on the one hand, it wants to renegotiate the contract, but if we say let's go for a win/win situation, everything goes quiet. It's difficult to assess what's happening."

On Brent Charlie, it was easier to assess progress. With oil production starting again on the field's 20th birthday, Shell/Esso was working to restart gas exports from the platform.

Brent Charlie was slated to resume gas production on Nov. 19. Even as the journalists were herded aboard the shorebound helicopter, engineers were itching to begin commissioning the last compressor.