North Sea Balmoral production drawing to a close
Premier Oil plans to shut down production permanently from the Balmoral Area of the UK central North Sea in October, the company revealed in its latest results statement.
Earlier this year the company closed down its Huntington field in the same area, and is also a partner in the recently shut-in Kyle field.
All three fields produced through floating production platforms, in Balmoral’s case via a purpose-built GVA 5000 semi-submersible.
Premier does not anticipate major abandonment expenditure, with associated well abandonment costs likely to be spread over several years.
As for fields still in production, output from the Catcher Area in the UK central North Sea was impacted by an unplanned 20-day outage in 2Q, and the need to re-inject some gas into the reservoir prior to reinstatement of the FPSO’s full gas train next month.
Well data compiled during the reinjection will be used to assess prospects for improved oil recovery from the Catcher Area fields.
The Varadero infill well (VP1) should come onstream in September, helping to maintain plateau oil rates of 66,000 b/d.
West of Shetland, Premier’s production from Solan field was affected by a planned shutdown for platform modifications in May, associated with the P3 well, and the second producer (P2) being on free flow from March.
P3, a vertical pilot well, was successfully side tracked horizontally last month, encountering more than 2,300 feet (701 metres) of net sand with good reservoir properties. The well, due to come online by the end of September, should lift overall output from Solan field by around 10,000 b/d.
In the UK southern North Sea, the company anticipates first gas from its 500-bcf Tolmount field development next spring.
The jacket and topsides should sail-away from Rosetti’s yard in eastern Italy during August, with the platform set to be installed at the field location in late September/early October, followed by mobilization of the jack-up rig to drill the initial four development wells. Shoreline and inshore pipeline crossings have already been completed.
Source: Offshore Magazine