Page 10 - Euroil Week 42 2019

EurOil PROJECTS & COMPANIES EurOil
Premier strikes gas in North Sea
UK
Premier aims to sanction the project
for development in the second half of next year.
THE UK’s Premier Oil has reported a new gas nd in the southern North Sea, li ing prospects for its Greater Tolmount development.
The company sank a well targeting 220bn cubic feet (5.67bn cubic metres) of gross P50 gas in an undrilled area 4km east of the Tolmount gas field, estimated to contain 14.2 bcm. The well penetrated a 73.5-metre gas-bearing Leman sand layer of high quality, it said on October 17, with a net-to-gross ratio of 71%, a porosity of 16% and gas saturation of 82%.
“We are delighted with this commercial discovery at Tolmount East, the development of which will add signi cant value to our UK portfolio,” Premier’s CEO Tony Durrant said in a statement.
Logging and wireline acquisition has been carried out with extensive pressure data and uid sampling, and a 66-metre reservoir core was recovered. Data will now be integrated with the new 3D seismic dataset, in order to fast-track the Tolmount East discovery’s development.
Premier and its Korean-controlled partner Dana Petroleum took a nal investment decision (FID) on the main Tolmount eld in August last year. e project will feature a platform and a gas pipeline connecting it to the Centrica-operated onshore Easington terminal. First gas is expected in the fourth quarter of 2020, with output ramp- ing up to a daily plateau of 8.5mn cubic metres (58,000 barrels of oil equivalent, boe).
Premier said it aimed to sanction Tolmount East in the second half of next year, noting that the discovery also boded well for other targets in the Greater Tolmount Area, including Tolmount Far East and the Mongour nd.
Premier, which also works in South-East Asia and Latin America, posted a steep climb in pro ts in the rst half as output surged to a new height of 84,100 boepd, up 10.4% year and year. e growth came largely on the back of rising production at its agship Catcher eld in the UK North Sea, which is now owing at its maximum capacity of 70,000 boepd. ™
Buzzard oilfield suffers shutdowns
UK
Buzzard has been beset by unplanned outages since its start-up.
THE Buzzard oil eld in the UK North Sea shut down on October 16 for the second time this month for repairs, its Chinese operator CNOOC International said in a statement, according to Reuters.
e eld, one of the UK’s largest producers with an average output at 150,000 barrels per day (bpd), went o ine for repairs at the pipework of its topsides on October 4. Operations were resumed on October 14, but were halted two days later a er the repairs were found to have been “compromised.”
“Adefectontopsidespipeworkwasrepaired last week and production safely restarted. A route follow-up inspection identi ed that the integrity of the repair was subsequently com- promised,” CNOOC International explained. “An alternative repair option is being progressed.”
Found in 2001 and brought on stream in 2007, Buzzard is the main contributor of the For- ties oil stream, one of ve North Sea oil grades that make up the Brent crude oil futures bench- mark LCOc1. CNOOC International owns a 43% operating stake in the project, and is joined by partners Suncor, Chrysaor, Dyas and Oran- je-Nassau Energie.
Buzzard has been beset by unplanned out- ages since its start-up, but its investors have taken steps to reduce their frequency. e group greenlit Buzzard’s second stage last year, target- ing the eld’s northern section. Its scope includes a subsea manifold for eight production and four water injection wells tied back to Buzzard’s exist- ing infrastructure.
First oil is anticipated in the rst quarter of 2021,addinganextra46,000bpdtohelpavertan otherwise steep decline at Buzzard.™
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w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m Week 42 24•October•2019