Siri area returns to production

After a half-year hiatus, exploration and production in the Siri area has recommenced.

DONG Energy reconnected the Siri Knutsen to three of the Siri area’s four oil fields on 28 January 2014, offshore Denmark. The Nini East field delivered first oil on 4 February 2014.

In December 2013, the Danish Energy Agency approved a temporary production solution to allow for a Q1 2014 restart.

Read More: http://www.oedigital.com/component/k2/item/4631-temporary-solution-for-siri

Operations were placed on hold in July 2013, after a new crack was found around the sponson (nose) area of the Siri platform. The Nini, Nini East and Cecilie fields are slowly returning to full operation, with oil being sent to the Siri Knutsen, instead of the platform.

 “We have been working determined to get Siri’s satellite fields back in production in order to create value, while repairing the Siri platform at the same time. On the platform we still have a huge [job] in front of us before we can produce from the Siri field itself,” Flemming Horn Nielsen, who is responsible for DONG Energy’s Danish oil and gas business said.

The work of reinforcing the Siri platform itself will continue in parallel with the satellite fields producing oil and will be completed this summer, the company projects.

Production at the Siri Field was also stopped in August 2009 due to cracks in a subsea structure joined to the oil storage tank underneath the Siri platform. The damage occurred when the design of the grouting material applied to fix the caisson failed.

To avoid further damage, DONG Energy connected a drilling rig to the caisson in October 2009. Production in the field resumed in January 2010.

DONG Energy is the operator and sole owner of the field.

The Cecilie license is owned by DONG Energy (22%), Noreco (61%) and RWE (17%). The Nini license, which comprises of the Nini as well as the Nini east fields is owned by DONG Energy (40%), RWE (30%) and Noreco (30%).

The Siri area is located on the Danish Continental Shelf close to the Norwegian Border, roughly 155mi northwest of Esbjerg on the west coast of Denmark. The area contains five fields, Siri, Nini, Nini East, Cecilie and Stine, all producing from Paleocene sandstone reservoirs located between 1800m and 2200m below the sea level.