Statoil has handed out the largest contracts for the UK North Sea’s Mariner field that are worth more than US$1.57 billion (£1 billion) to the companies established in Aberdeen.
.jpg) |
|
Mariner. Image from Statoil. |
The Mariner heavy oil field is located in Block 9/11, on the East Shetland Platform, about 150km east of the Shetland Isles.
The contracts have been for the operational phase of the Norwegian giant’s operated field that is expected to contribute more than 250 MMbbl reserves with an average plateau production of 55,000 b/d, begin production in 2017.
Statoil Production UK Managing Director Gunnar Breivik address the Oil and Gas Industry Conference in Aberdeen on 17 June, underlining the need to continue the increased efforts for efficiency and cost effectiveness.
“We will need even more collaboration and contributions from the market to obtain a sustainable cost level that will allow us to continue investments in Mariner and possible new field developments over the next years and decades. We need to work together in a different way going forward than we have done in the past,” Breivik said.
According to Statoil, its ambition is to work very closely with key contractors, and collaborate as partners with common goals. The company used its Mariner contract with Schlumberger Oilfield UK as a example of an innovative compensation format aimed at creating win-wins.
“The aim is a long-term partnership with a performance-based compensation format rewarding actual performance — meters drilled and completed — rather than usage of time and material. Together we are now establishing an integrated operations team in our Aberdeen office, working closely with both the service supplier and the drilling contractors to plan and optimize operations. The ambition is to work side by side to meet the challenges in the market, driving performance, creating value and dividing risk,” Breivik said.
Schlumberger was awarded the four-year (with options for several additional four-year extensions) Mariner contract in December 2014 to provide integrated drilling and well services on the Mariner development. From its Aberdeen-based office, Schlumberger is delivering drilling, completion, electrical submersible pumps, cement, and fluids. The contract is for a total of 22 drilling and well services including logistics support responsibility, which goes beyond the normal scope for similar Statoil contracts.
Mariner
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. It is expected to produce for 30 years and will be one of the largest offshore developments on the UK Continental Shelf in more than a decade.
“Dry weights of the platform at installation total around 58,000-tonne of steel – 7.5 times the metal used in the Eiffel tower. The footprint of the steel jacket is larger than Aberdeen Football Club’s pitch at Pittodrie,” Breivik said. “There are around 2 billion bbl of oil in place. Our business case is based on 250 MMbbl of recoverable reserves. But we clearly have an ambition to increase that, and our teams in Aberdeen are well underway with designing a drainage strategy that could reduce risk and costs and increase recovery,” Breivik said.
Mariner’s concept 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 jackup assisting in the first four to five years of the project.
Following the project’s 2012 final investment decision of $7 billion, Statoil established an Aberdeen office in 2013.
Other UK contracts
Some of the additional Mariner contracts that Statoil awarded to UK businesses include:
Statoil is the operator of Mariner with 65.11% interest. Partners are JX Nippon E&P (UK) (28.89%) and Dyas UK (6%).
Read more:
Subscribe
