UK regulator Oil & Gas Authority (OGA) today (22 June) unveiled a new strategy to make tight gas drilling in the southern North Sea (SNS) more economically feasible.
OGA developed the strategy to encourage greater use of technology and collaboration to unlock remaining reserves, which OGA conservatively estimates at approximately 3.8 Tcf of tight gas reserves, including infill opportunities, undeveloped discoveries and prospects.
However, tight gas reservoirs – low permeability gas reservoirs that mainly produce dry gas -- have often been disregarded as high cost and high risk, with license holders focusing instead on less complex developments with lower costs and higher recovery factors, OGA said in a 22 June press release.
Maximizing recovery of tight gas represents a real opportunity to extend the life of the SNS’s existing infrastructure, including the development of marginal fields and potentially the redevelopment of existing fields, said Eric Marston, OGA area manager for the Southern North Sea and East Irish Sea. In addition, OGA can expect an upturn in activity to benefit the supply chain by building their capability and expertise in tight gas.
“There’s a lot of energy in the southern sector right now with operators collaborating on some great projects to bring new developments to market,” Marston added. “We’ve also been working closely with industry via the East of England Energy Group’s (EEEGr) SNS Rejuvenation Special Interest Group, which in turn has been actively supporting the tight gas agenda.”
The strategy’s goal is to help deliver tight gas developments across the SNS in support of the OGA’s Maximizing Economic Recovery strategy for the UK (MER UK) and the OGA’s objectives and priorities within the Corporate Plan 2016-2021.
The strategy includes an eight-step program that maps out activities intended to help OGA achieve its goal. For existing tight gas developments, this includes promoting integrated programs of work and sharing best practices among SNS operators who are developing tight gas resources in the next one to two years. For future tight gas developments, OGA aims to promote integrated work and best practice sharing for tight gas reserves being developed in the next three to five years.
OGA will seek to maximize tight gas recovery through workgroups and industry partnerships, and identify technology development opportunities that could unlock future tight gas opportunities. This includes establishing relevant business cases for specific technology needs to support tight gas developments, and promote specific technologies that might require seed funding through the Technology Leadership Board and Oil and Gas Technology Centre, OGA said in the strategy plan.
As part of the strategy, OGA will seek to reduce development risks and improve project economics for prospective tight gas development. Promoting tight gas opportunities through coordinated communication plans with relevant stakeholder agreement also is part of OGA’s plan.
Over the past 50 years, 40 Tcf of gas has been produced from the southern North Sea, and the mature offshore basin continues to produce around 1.3 Bcf/d. OGA reported earlier this month that, while production efficiency of the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS) has risen a fourth consecutive year to 73%, the efficiency of wells in the SNS was the biggest loss category. This is due at least in part to the region’s maturity and degradation of well productivity over time.
Overall, the UKCS contains over 3 billion boe of resources in approximately 350 unsanctioned, and largely marginal, UKCS discoveries.
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