Offshore staff
LONDON – First oil has flowed from the EnQuest-operated Kraken field development in the UK northern North Sea.
During the initial ramp-up period, the seven production and six injector wells drilled to date are being brought online in a phased manner, in order to maximize long-term productivity.
Drill centers 1 and 2 are complete; work continues on drill center 3, with connected wells here due to come online into 2018.
UK Business and Energy Secretary Greg Clark said: “This is a landmark project for EnQuest and the UK oil and gas sector as one of the largest new oil fields to come onstream in the North Sea in a decade.”
Dr. Andy Samuel, chief executive of theUK’s Oil & Gas Authority, said the success of this project “has the potential to open up additional heavy-oil opportunities in the northern North Sea, with other developments in the pipeline.
“It’s particularly pleasing to see a project delivered under budget, having clearly benefitted from a strong partnership between operator and key service providers.”
Kraken is in the East Shetland basin in 100 m (328 ft) of water, west of the North Viking Graben, and around 125 km (77.7 mi) east of the Shetland Islands.
It contains around 128 MMboe of gross 2P reserves, with production expected to peak at around 50,000 b/d. TheFPSOArmada Kraken is said to have the largest liquid handling capacity on the UK continental shelf.
Latest estimate of the capital costs is $2.5 billion, down from $3.2 billion when the project was sanctioned. EnQuest attributes the savings to planning and project execution and good progress on drilling and on execution of the subsea program.
In addition, drilling and formation evaluation have shown strong correlations with subsurface expectations pre-sanction.
EnQuest has a 70.5% in Kraken, the balance held by partner Cairn Energy.
06/26/2017
