UK North Sea-focused oil company Serica Energy has set out plans to drill four wells in the Triton area, along will well work on the Bruce and Keith fields as part of its investment program for 2024.
Serica is planning an ‘ambitious program’ of organic investments during 2024 extending into 2025 and 2026.
The investments in 2024 include four wells in the Triton area (Bittern B1z sidetrack, Gannet E GE-05, Guillemot North West EC1 and Evelyn EV-02) and well work on the Bruce and Keith fields.
The start date of the B1z sidetrack is expected to be in March 2024, the company said. This well and the subsequent three wells are scheduled to take about three months each, meaning that drilling will continue into 2025.
Serica has also exercised an option to keep the rig for a further well following completion of the fourth well in the program (EV-02).
Production from the B1z sidetrack is expected to start shortly after the completion of drilling.
Serica expects the production from each of the other three wells to start around 30 days after the completion of drilling of each well.
According to the company, the Bruce and Keith Light Well Intervention Vessel (LWIV) campaign is on track to take place between March and May.
This follows previous campaigns in 2022 and 2023, which have delivered low-cost incremental production.
It is hoped to restart production from the Keith field during 2024 following successful preparation work on the Keith subsea facilities carried out in 2023. Additional well interventions from the Bruce platform are scheduled for the second half of 2024.
The estimated cost to Serica of the currently approved capital investment in its producing assets in the Bruce and Triton hubs is approximately $268 million (£210 million), before tax relief. Most of the expenditures are expected to be incurred in 2024.
Looking further ahead, both the Buchan field redevelopment and Belinda field development projects are moving towards potential sanction.
The Environmental Statement and draft Field Development Plan for the Buchan project have been submitted, with completion of Serica’s acquisition of a 30% interest is expected to occur during February.
As previously reported, the Belinda draft Field Development Plan was submitted in September 2023.
Serica is also maturing plans for two infill wells on the Bruce field with the aim of drilling in 2026.
The Skerryvore joint venture, in which Serica holds a 20% interest, is working towards drilling a licence commitment exploration well during late 2024 or the first half of 2025, the company said.
Abandonment costs in 2024 are forecast to be about $17.9 million (£14 million) pre-tax net to Serica.
These will be incurred mainly on the final decommissioning of the Arthur field, situated in the UK Southern North Sea, which was held by Tailwind Energy.
“Pro-forma production in 2023 after including volumes from the Tailwind assets for the full year was just over 40,000 boe/d net to Serica
“Production in 2024 is expected to be higher than in 2023 with guidance between 41,000 boe/d and 48,000 boe/d for the year. This reflects a range of outcomes in a year of significant activity including the speed with which the scheduled drilling and well work deliver incremental production.
“Serica’s strategy of investing in its assets continues to be central to our record of consistently achieving high levels of reserves replacement, combined with increased levels of production,” said Mitch Flegg, Chief Executive of Serica.
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