Offshore staff
HOUSTON -- Apache Corp has brought onstream two new production wells at its Forties field complex in the UK central North Sea.
Charlie 4-3 flowed at an initial rate of 12,567 b/d of oil, the highest ever from the field. It follows Charlie 2-2, which was completed in March with initial output of 11,876 b/d. The other new well, Delta 3-5, began flowing at 8,781 b/d.
Apache acquired a new 4D time-lapse seismic survey over Forties last year, to help it identify accumulations of by-passed oil within the field area. Charlie 4-3 and Delta 3-5 successfully targeted two of these accumulations, and they were also the eighth and ninth development wells newly online at Forties this year.
More 4D driven targets are being pinpointed – Apache expects to drill a total of 16 wells on the field during 2011.
When Apache succeeded BP as operator of Forties in 2003, production was down to 40,000 b/d. However, the latest wells have lifted gross daily rates at times to 70,000 boe/d, in spite of constraints caused by construction programs and temporary pipeline closures.
At the Charlie platform, Apache’s development drilling has increased production from below 5,000 b/d in 2006 to the present 30,000 b/d. The company expects full transmission capacity to become available later this summer as planned repair and maintenance work is completed and the Bravo pipeline comes back online.
07/07/2011
