Offshore staff
CALGARY, Canada – Britain’s government has agreed to amend the terms to Antrim Energy’s license P077 (block 21/28a) in the UK central North Sea to allow the company to submit a revised development plan for the Fyne field by Jan. 31, 2014.
The consent stipulates that the plan must be submitted in its final form, the environmental statement for the project must be cleared, Antrim must be approved as a production operator, there must be satisfactory evidence of financing, and first production must be achieved prior to Nov. 25, 2016.
Due to escalating costs Antrim decided in March not to pursue development of Fyne using theFPSOHummingbird Spirit. The company has now signed a non-binding heads of agreement with Enegi Oil and Advanced Buoy Technology (ABT), which will perform engineering studies and prepare a development plan based on buoy technology.
Assuming approval by Britain’s Department of Energy and Climate Change, Enegi-ABT will earn the right to back into 50% of the license, with Antrim remaining operator.
Fyne holds reserves estimated at 9.9 MMbbl. To date five wells have been drilled, producing 25° API crude and testing at rates of up to 4,000 b/d. The field is on a sand-filled channel that links the Pilot field (250 MMbbl in place) to the Guillemot complex (60 MMbbl recoverable).
ABT’s concept involves installation just below the surface of the water of an unmanned buoy housing production and processing equipment. Produced oil is offloaded to a tanker for transport. The aim is a low-cost solution that reduces capital and operational costs, to allow development of a field that might otherwise be uneconomic.
The new partners will perform a front-end engineering design study based on buoy technology for Fyne and are working to finalize the scope of other studies.
Additionally, they could cooperate in an area adjacent to Fyne that may include discoveries for a potential tieback.
Enegi is working to secure project finance for the production buoy.
7/02/2013
