Offshore staff
STAVANGER, Norway – Wintershall plans to spend up to NOK 2 billion ($342 million) over the next three years in exploration and field development offshore Norway and the UK.
The focus of development will be on the Knarr andEdvard Grieg projects in the Norwegian sector, and on the Catcher and Cladhan projects in the UK North Sea. Wintershall aims to lift its Norwegian/UK production to 50,000 boe/d by end-2015.
“To do this, we will have to increase staff numbers at our base in Stavanger from 217-300 next year,” said Bernd Schrimpf, managing director of Wintershall Norge, at ONS last week. “Aside from Russia, Norway is where we want to expand most. We currently have 43 licenses on the Norwegian continental shelf, of which we operate over 50%.”
Wintershall will bid for more exploration acreage under Norway’s 22nd and future APA licensing rounds, he added.
Earlier this year, the company successfully appraised its2010 Maria oil discovery in the Norwegian Sea. The results confirm reserves in the range 60-120 MMbbl. The field could be developed using a fixed production platform, an FPSO, or subsea wells tied back to either the Heidrun or Kristin complexes.
In March, Wintershall found a similar sized oil pool at theSkarfjell structure, 17 km (10.5 mi) southwest of the Gjøa field in the North Sea. Schrimpf said two appraisal wells are planned here during 2013.
This week the semisubmersibleBredford Dolphin was to spud the Asha/Noor exploration well on a license north of Edvard Grieg to target a similar play and two other plays.
Later this summer, the company will drill the Hibonite prospect in the western part of the Danish North Sea as a follow-up to the 2009 Ravn-3 discovery.
In the UK southern gas basin, the company plans more development wells on the producing Wingate field. Offshore the Netherlands, there are plans to tie in further satellite gas fields to the Q1 production area, and to explore a prospect in the L6 area.
9/5/2012
