Statoil Starts Production at North Sea Mariner Field

Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--Norway's oil and gas giant Statoil ASA (OSE:STL) (Stavangar, Norway) has announced that production has started at Mariner in the U.K. North Sea.

The company said that production drilling is under way at the Mariner heavy oil field from the East Shetland platform, which is located 150 kilometres (km) east of the Shetland Isles. The company said that up to five wells will be drilled before the Mariner A platform hook-up and commissioning activity starts next summer. First oil is expected to be produced from Mariner in 2018. It is one of the largest projects currently under development on the U.K. Continental Shelf (UKCS) with contracts worth more than £1 billion ($1.25 billion) already awarded.

"This is an exciting period for us as a UKCS operator as we transition from the planning phase to active offshore operations," commented Hedda Felin, managing director, Statoil Production U.K.. "Pre-drilling enables production to reach plateau levels more quickly after the start of operations on Mariner A. It will also be an important learning period for us in terms of understanding the reservoir and identifying potential efficiencies for future wells, with safety and the protection of the environment being our fundamental priorities."

The Mariner heavy oil field has reserves estimated at more than 250 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe) with an average plateau production of around 55,000 barrels per day. Statoil expects the field to have a 30-year lifespan.

The largest jack-up rig in the world, Noble Lloyd Noble, is now positioned over the Mariner jacket, which was installed in 2015, Statoil explained. The first production wells will be drilled through a well deck on the jacket with up to five wells completed before the platform topside modules arrive in the middle of next year. Up to 100 reservoir targets could be drilled over the lifetime of the Mariner field.

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