DUC announces $800M investment

Bladt-built Nini East platform

The Danish Underground Consortium (DUC) has announced investment of US$800million on a new platform in Denmark's sector of the North Sea.

The facility, to be built by Danish firm Bladt Industries A/S, will be to expand the Tyra Southeast development. The installation is planned to take place at the end of 2014 with first oil in early 2015.

It expevted to add reserves and resources of 50 million barrels of oil equivalent over the next 30 years to the Danish production, said DUC, a partnership between A.P. Møller - Mærsk (31.2%), Shell (36.8%), Nordsøfonden (20%) and Chevron (12.0%).

“The expansion of the Tyra Southeast development is the largest investment by the DUC partners since the approval of Halfdan Phase 4 in 2007,"  said Mark Wallace, Managing Director for Maersk Oil Danish Business Unit, the operator of the DUC.

"This is the kind of investment needed to secure future Danish oil and gas production. The new host platform and wells will add significantly to our production, and we expect it to produce for the next 30 years."

The new platform will produce a mixture of oil and gas. The project is expected to deliver approximately 20 million barrels of oil and 170 billion standard cubic feet of gas, combined reserves and resources of 50 million barrels of oil equivalent, with a peak production in 2017 of some 20,000 boed.

Bladt Industries will be responsible for the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) of the approximately 1,100 tonnes 16-slot wellhead topside and the procurement and construction of a four-legged jacket and bridge linking the new platform with the existing one.

The production will take place at Bladt Industries’ facilities in Aalborg, Denmark, and the planning process has already started. 

The entire project is scheduled to be ready to leave Bladt Industries’ quay side in Aalborg, Denmark by 1 May 2014 making the time-frame short and the demand for efficiency heavy.

“We are working with a fairly short time-frame considering the scope of the project. However, with our 40 years of experience and knowledge, we are convinced that we will succeed,” says Peter Rindebæk, managing director, Bladt.

Maersk Oil plans to drill 12 wells during 2015-2017. Each horizontal well will be about six km long.

The total investment in the Tyra Southeast expansion of $800 million includes the platform, pipelines and drilling of the wells.

“The Danish North Sea still contains significant oil and gas resources," added Wallace. "However, the remaining oil and gas is becoming progressively more difficult to extract requiring efficient development, new technology and continued large investments.

"The Tyra Southeast development is an example of our efforts to maximise recovery from the Danish North Sea. The investment represents an important part of the next chapter in the Danish oil production.

“It was rewarding to see during the bidding for this project, in an international market, that the most competitive offer was provided by a local Danish company. It shows that the construction industry is able to compete for projects of this type and participate in recovering more oil and gas from the Danish sector."

The project has been formally approved by the Danish Energy Agency.