Offshore staff
ZOETERMEER, the Netherlands – GDF SUEZ has started oil production from the Amstel field in the Dutch North Sea through its newly installed Q13a-A platform.
The company acquired 50% of the surrounding Q13a offshore production license in 2010. Early the following year it proved that the field was viable with a successful appraisal well.
Amstel’s light crude is transported through a new 25-km (15.5-mi) subsea pipeline to the TAQA-operated P15 platform to the northwest. Following treatment, it is sent through an existing pipeline to a refinery in Rotterdam.
At peak the field is expected to produce 15,000 b/d of oil, with an estimated production life of 10 years.
The Q13a-A facility is GDF SUEZ’s first oil producing platform in the Dutch sector. Power is supplied through a 14-km (8.7-mi) long high-voltage submarine cable connected to the onshore grid.
The platform, which is fixed to the seafloor via suction anchors, has electrically driven submersible pumps in the production wells at a depth of 2 km (6,562 ft). Partners in the development are EBN and TAQA.
02/12/2014
