Maersk Oil reached an agreement with the government of Denmark that will see a full redevelopment plan for the Tyra project in the Danish North Sea.
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Tyra East. Image from Maersk Oil. |
The deal comes nearly three months after the Danish giant announced plans to shut in the field next year.
“The agreement provides the terms that enable the DUC (Danish Underground Consortium) partners to progress a full redevelopment plan for the Tyra facilities towards a decision to invest in the project by the end of 2017,” says Maersk Oil.
Denmark’s largest gas field, the Tyra field requires redevelopment due to subsidence of the chalk reservoir, which has led to the platforms sinking by around 5m in the last 30 years, according to Maersk. This has reduced the gap between the sea and the platform decks. As a result, investment is required if the Tyra complex is to continue producing safely into the next decade.
Since 1984, Tyra, 225km west of Esbjerg, has been at the center of Denmark’s national energy infrastructure, processing 90% of the nation’s gas production. Tyra East and Tyra West are also the hub for a number of smaller facilities in the Tyra field. This includes the neighboring unmanned facility, Tyra Southeast, which was extended in 2015.
Maersk Oil says that a full redevelopment will restore the current infrastructure, including the gas processing hub and five surrounding satellite fields, which include Harald and Valdemar, and thereby ensure continued production from the Tyra field. The new asset could enable future production of oil and gas volumes from the DUC license area as well as third party projects.
According to the Danish company, the full redevelopment program requires a resequencing of engineering activities versus the decommissioning and partial redevelopment scenario outlined to the gas markets on 30 December 2016.
Maersk Oil today (22 March) issued a further REMIT notice to the gas markets on behalf of all DUC partners outlining that, pending a final investment decision, production from Tyra is now expected to shut in December 2019, and restart in March 2022. More information on the revised schedule for a full redevelopment of Tyra will be made available on final investment decision later this year.
The deal is also expected to facilitate future oil and gas in investments in the Danish North Sea, in which oil and gas have been produced for nearly 50 years.
“The agreement makes the Danish North Sea a more competitive investment area for oil and gas companies to invest and to develop new opportunities. A redevelopment of Tyra can be a catalyst for prolonging the life of the Danish North Sea. It can protect valuable revenues to the Danish state and Danish jobs– especially in the Esbjerg area. We will now issue tenders and progress engineering work towards detailed plans in preparation of a final investment decision by end 2017,” says Maersk Oil Chief Operating Officer Martin Rune Pedersen.
The agreement with the government of Denmark is subject to Danish parliamentary approval.
At the beginning of the year, Maersk Oil expected to shut in Tyra in October 2018, due to a lack of an economic strategy.
The Tyra field is operated by Maersk Oil on behalf of the DUC, a partnership between A.P. Moller – Maersk (31.2%), Shell (36.8%), Nordsøfonden (20%) and Chevron (12%).
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