First Oil Flowing at U.K.'s Largest Oil Field

Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--The largest U.K. offshore oil development in a decade has started producing oil.

Norway's energy major Equinor (NYSE:EQNR) has confirmed that first oil from the Mariner field in the U.K. North Sea has commenced. The field is expected to produce more than 300 million barrels of oil over the next 30 years. Equinor expects gross investment to be more than $7.7 billion, and to date, contracts worth more than $1.3 billion have been awarded to U.K. suppliers since the project started. Mariner is located on the East Shetland Platform of the U.K. North Sea, roughly 150 kilometres east of Shetland and 320 kilometres northeast of Aberdeen.

"The startup of Mariner, the first Equinor-operated oil field on the UKCS [U.K. Continental Shelf], establishes our foothold in the U.K. and reinforces our commitment to be a long-term energy partner," said Hedda Felin, senior vice president for U.K. and Ireland Offshore in Equinor.

"By gathering and interpreting new seismic data we have improved our understanding of the reservoir," added Anders Opedal, executive vice president for Technology, Projects and Drilling in Equinor. "This has resulted in fewer and better placed wells and increased resources since the project was sanctioned in 2012. With the significant volumes in place, we see clear potential to further increase the oil recovery from the Mariner field and will proactively seek opportunities to do so through the application of new technology, additional drilling and future tie-back opportunities."

The Mariner reservoirs have up to 3 billion barrels of oil in place, which Equinor said is a 50% increase on what was originally assumed, while the recovery rate has been increased by 20%. Mariner is expected to produce annual average rates of about 55,000 barrels of oil per day (BBL/d) and up to 70,000 BBL/d at peak production.

Mariner's production start was welcomed by Oil & Gas U.K. Upstream Policy Director Mike Tholen. "First oil from Mariner represents a significant achievement for Equinor and its pioneering development of the field, helping the company to become a major player in the U.K. sector of the North Sea with a long-lasting, positive impact on the region. As the largest offshore development in the U.K. for a decade, Mariner has utilised pioneering technology to bring on stream a field first discovered nearly 40 years ago. In doing so it has provided thousands of highly skilled jobs across the country during its development and will support many more in the years to come."

Equinor is the operator of Mariner with 65.11% equity, alongside JX Nippon (20%), Siccar Point (8.89%) and ONE-Dyas (6%). The Mariner field development includes a production, drilling and quarters (PDQ) platform based on a steel jacket, with oil being exported to a floating storage unit (FSU) and then to shore via tankers.

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