Norwegian giant Statoil’s Mariner field in the North Sea is a US$7 billion investment for the company.
It is located in Block 9/11 on the East Shetland Platform, about 150km east of the Shetland Isles, and lies in water depths ranging between 97-112m.
The development of the Mariner field will contribute more than 250 MMbbl reserves with average plateau production of around 55,000 b/d. The field will provide a long-term cash flow over a 30-year field life. Production is expected to commence in 2017.
The concept chosen includes a production, drilling and quarters (PDQ) platform based on a steel jacket, with a floating storage unit (FSU). Drilling will be carried out from the PDQ drilling rig, with a jack-up rig assisting for the first four to five years.
The steel jacket is under construction at Dragados Offshore S.A.’s yard in Cadiz, Spain. The topsides modules are being constructed by Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co., Ltd. (DSME) and the FSU by Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI), both in South Korea. The contract for heavy lift operations is awarded to Saipem in the UK, while Subsea 7 UK Ltd. has the contract for subsea umbilicals, risers and flowlines.
In June, Statoil awarded more than $1.57 billion worth of contracts to companies established in Aberdeen, for the operational phase of the project.
Mariner consists of two shallow reservoir sections. The deeper of the two, the Maureen formation, is at 1492m water depth, with an API of 14.2. The shallower Heimdal reservoir is at 1227m, with an API of 12.1.
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