Offshore staff
KASSEL, Germany – Wintershall Noordzee has started gas production from the b2 well on the Sillimanite field in the North Sea, 200 km (124 mi) from Den Helder.
The company, a joint venture between Wintershall Dea and Gazprom EP International, started drilling the b2 well in February, soon after the field’s producer had come onstream.
Operations were then impacted by the spread of COVID-19, but eventually b2 was brought online, on time and within budget.
The company discovered Sillimanite, on the Dutch/UK maritime median line, in 2015 and a trans-national agreement had to be secured before development could proceed.
So far b2 has performed as expected. Its gas will be transported through the new 12-km (7.5-mi) pipeline connecting the B platform to the existing production platform (operated by Neptune), both in Dutch waters and from there through the NGT gas transportation system to shore.
