Valaris rig drilling first North Sea Seagull well

Offshore staff

LONDON – Development drilling has started on the Neptune Energy-operated Seagull project in the UK central North Sea.

Valaris’ jackup Gorilla VI (JU-248) will drill four wells over the course of the 18-month campaign.

Seagull is a high-pressure/high-temperature field on license P1622 block 22/29C, with estimated reserves of up to 50 MMboe.

Production, expected to reach 50,000 boe/d, will be tied back via existing infrastructure to the bp-operated ETAP central processing facility, 17 km (11 mi) to the north. Other partners are bp and Japex.

The first subsea construction phase was completed late last year.

Gas will be exported to the CATS processing terminal at Teesside, northeast England, while the oil will head through the Forties Pipeline System to the Kinneil Terminal at Grangemouth, Scotland.

01/28/2021