UK North Sea oil and gas company Serica Energy expects to see first gas from its Columbus development in late 2021, a six-month delay to what was previously targeted.
The Columbus field plan, approved in 2018, envisions the reservoir will be linked to a pipeline linking Shell’s Arran field and the Shearwater platform. Arran and Columbus fluids will combine in the new pipeline and be produced together through to the Shearwater processing facilities.
However, according to reports published by the UK-based media earlier this month, Shell has decided to postpone works on the planned Shearwater gas hub.
This has now been confirmed by Serica, too, who said Thursday that the first gas from Columbus would now be delayed by around six months ”to match the deferred commissioning of the Arran to Shearwater pipeline.”
Back in 2018, when its Columbus plan was approved, Serica said its field production start-up timing would depend on the Arran-Shearwater pipeline being died into Shell’s platform. Serica had expected the first gas from Columbus to start flowing in mid-2021.
The decision to delay the Arran-Shearwater pipeline works has also lead Serica to possibly delay the drilling of the development well on the Columbus, deferring drilling expenditure for 2021.
"The Columbus development requires the availability of the Arran to Shearwater pipeline but the Arran partners have chosen to delay that project due to the current business environment."
"The Columbus partners remain committed to the project but are reviewing the drilling timing for the development well due to this unexpected delay to the Arran to Shearwater pipeline. This would defer approximately £11.5 million of net CAPEX from 2020 to 2021."
Serica is Columbus field operator with partners Tailwind Mistral Limited (25%) and Waldorf Production Limited (25%). This gas condensate discovery is located in the Eastern Central Graben, UK Central North Sea, and the reservoir is located within the Forties Sandstone.
The latest independent reserves audit, carried out by Lloyd's Register, reported Columbus 2P Reserves of 6.7 million boe net to Serica as of January 1, 2020.
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