North Sea weather slows Greater Stella drilling progress
March 31, 2014
Ithaca Energy says oil from its Greater Stella Area (GSA) development in the central UK North Sea will be exported via shuttle tankers.
Offshore staff
CALGARY, Canada – Ithaca Energy says oil from its Greater Stella Area (GSA) development in the central UK North Sea will be exported via shuttle tankers. Technip is due to install the offshore loading infrastructure this year.
Later in the field life, Ithaca foresees a pipeline connection from the semisubmersibleFPF-1 platform to existing oil export infrastructure, in order to maximize reserves recovery. Preparations are under way to install the topsides processing plant on the platform.
Severe weather in theNorth Sea over the last few months restricted drilling operations and has led to delays in moving the Ensco 100 rig onto location for the next two GSA development wells. However, all four start-up wells are expected to be available in time for arrival of the FPF-1 at the offshore location.
Drilling of the third development well has started, and installation of subsea infrastructure is expected to begin in April, culminating in the hookup of theFPF-1 and risers.
