Maersk Oil Hits Culzean Oil and Gas Milestones

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Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--Maersk Oil (Denmark) has finished the construction of all three jackets at its high pressure/high temperature (HP/HT) Culzean oil and gas field development in the U.K. North Sea.

The company confirmed that the three jackets--central processing facilities (CPF), utilities and living quarters (ULQ) and wellhead platform (WHP)--are now in place on time and within budget. Culzean is the largest discovery in the U.K. North Sea in more than a decade. The jackets were built by Heerema Hartlepool Limited (London) and installed using the Heerema Marine-operated crane vessel "Thialf". Maersk awarded the contract in late 2014. For additional information, see October 22, 2014, article - Maersk Oil Awards Well Head Contract for North Sea Culzean Gas Field.

"Culzean was sanctioned less than two years ago and already we've progressed the project over the halfway mark," said Gretchen Watkins, chief executive officer of Maersk Oil. "We're continuing to hit our milestones on time, and this progress means we're on track to deliver first gas in 2019. Nonetheless, with a project of this size, we can't be complacent, so we're committed to ensuring remaining workscopes are executed safely and successfully.

The Culzean field was discovered in 2008 and lies approximately 145 miles east of Aberdeen. It is estimated to produce between 60,000-90,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d) at plateau production and produce for at least 13 years. It sits in a water depth of about 88 metres and will supply about 5% of the U.K.'s total gas demand by 2020/21. Maersk operates the field with a 50% stake, while BP plc (NYSE:BP) (London, England) holds a 32% stake and JX Nippon Oil & Gas Exploration Corporation (Tokyo, Japan) the remaining 18%.

Martin Urquhart, Culzean project director, added: "Completing the installation safely and on time is a great achievement when you consider the sheer scale of the structures involved; the combined weight of the jackets is over 22,000 tonnes, the equivalent of around 30 jumbo jets per jacket, so we used the world's largest crane vessel for the installation."

Earlier this month, Maersk awarded Wood Group plc (Aberdeen, Scotland) a new three-year contract to deliver mechanical and management services for the hook-up and commissioning of the Culzean gas condensate field.

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