Offshore staff
LONDON – Serica Energy has issued an update on operations to restore production from the long-suspended R3 well on the Rhum gas-condensate field in the UK northern North Sea.
Progress had been impacted by rig and weather-related problems. Previous operator BP had encountered difficulties in 2005 when a hydrate plug formed in the well, and Serica’s investigation found that wireline debris had also been left in the well.
Both have been remedied, with the wireline ‘fish’ recovered and the hydrate plug broken down following heating.
However, ongoing operations to remove the 2005 downhole completion for a recompletion of the well are taking longer than anticipated, due mainly to the poor condition of the equipment being recovered from the well.
As a result, work on R3 is now set to continue into March.
Serica has received a renewed license and secondary sanctions assurance from the US Office of Foreign Assets Control relating to Rhum, due to the 50% legacy interest held by National Iranian Oil Co.
This will allow certain US-owned and non-US entities to continue supplying equipment, services, and support to Rhum beyond Feb. 28, when the current license was set to expire.
Rhum’s production is tied back to the Bruce field center. Since Serica assumed operatorship of Bruce two years ago it has eliminated 62% of all flaring from the platform, with preliminary figures also showing a 10% cut in carbon emissions from the Bruce platform in 2020.
Before the end of the current quarter, Serica expects the jackup Maersk Resilient, contracted for the company’s Columbus development well, to come on hire.
Columbus will export gas/condensate via a well tied into Shell’s Arran to Shearwater pipeline in the UK central North Sea, and processed on the Shearwater platform.
Production from Columbus should start in early 4Q 2021, at an initial rate of around 7,000 boe/d.
01/21/2021
