Harbour adding more wells in North Sea J-Area

Offshore staff

LONDON — Drilling has started on three new wells that will be tied back to the J-Area infrastructure in the UK central North Sea, operator Harbour Energy reported in its latest results review.

Judy (pictured) and Joanne are in Block 30/7a of the UK central North Sea about 240 km southeast of Aberdeen. They sit in Quadrant 30 of the J-Area (or J-Block) with overlapping reservoirs.

In the same area, the Jade-JM well recently came onstream while the Judy-RD well should be online before year-end 2022.

Elsewhere in the region, the Leverett appraisal well, close to the Greater Britannia Area, should spud during first-half 2023.

At Beryl, operated by APA Corp., drilling is progressing at Buckland South West following the delayed arrival of the rig while planned platform drilling from Beryl Bravo has been deferred until early in 2023.

The Catcher Area drilling program recently finished with Catcher North now tied into production and Burgman Far East due to start operations early next year.

Harbour’s Tolmount gas field in the UK southern North Sea reached plateau rates in July and cash payback in September, less than six months after production started. However, pressure and other data suggest the field will come off plateau early next year.

Planned activities at Tolmount in 2023 include compression startup, drilling of the Tolmount East well (expected online in 2024) and testing of the nearby Earn prospect. If the well is successful, it would be tied into the infrastructure.

CCS updates

Harbour has entered an exclusive commercial relationship with Associated British Ports, which plans to develop a CO₂ import terminal at Immingham on the Lincolnshire coast in eastern England.

This would allow Harbour’s planned Viking Carbon Capture and Storage scheme to offer a solution for stranded CO₂ emissions across the UK.

Statutory consultation should start shortly for the Viking CCS onshore pipeline, which will connect the Humber region to Theddlethorpe, also on the Lincolnshire coast, with a planning application due to be submitted in 2023.

Subject to progress related to the regulatory framework, the company aims to progress Viking and the Acorn CCS projects to the north to final investment decisions in 2024, with first offshore CO₂ injection potentially in 2027.

11.03.2022