Oil major Shell is planning to breath new life into its oldest North Sea floating production unit after acquiring new 4D seismic data last year.
According to a partner on one of the fields produced by the Anasuria floating production, storage, and offloading vessel, Shell is planning an eight week shutdown of the unit in 2H this year.
The shutdown will be to extend the life of the vessel, with work focusing on improving the operational efficiency and longevity of the facilities, “enabling the full potential of the field to be delivered in the coming years."
In addition, a new production riser for the Cook field will be installed during the shutdown. The work follows new 4D seismic data, acquired over the field in 2013, which is now due to be processed and interpreted over the course of this year.
Independent exploration firm Ithaca Energy, which holds a stake in the Cook field, said the seismic data will improve the understanding of reservoir sweep, and that its objective is identifying the potential for drilling a further well on the field.
The Anasuria was installed in 1996, and was Shell’s first purpose-built floating production unit in the North Sea.
It has seven cargo tanks, which can store 850,000 boe. Its topsides were designed as separate modules. It produced from the Teal, Teal South, Guillemot, and Cook fields, about 175km east of Aberdeen.
Oil transported via shuttle tanker and gas exported by the Fulmar pipeline to St Fergus. The vessel is currently undergoing unplanned repair work on a gas export compressor.
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