TAQA Bratani, the UK subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi national energy company, said yesterday it was moving forward with its first new field development.
Falcon in the northern North Sea has estimated reserves of 3million barrels of oil equivalent.
The field was explored and appraised earlier this year. Well operations, installation and commissioning of the new Falcon facilities will begin in April and continue until first production in June.
The development will consist of a production well tied back to TAQA’s nearby Kestrel field and then onwards to its Tern platform. TAQA Bratani subsurface manager Rob Kuyper said: “The speed with which we managed to bring the project on stream, from buying the exploration acreage to expected production within less than two years, is truly unique and underlines TAQA’s strong position in the North Sea.
“The northern North Sea is full of smaller field-development opportunities.
“While many of these developments were previously not commercial due to high tax liabilities, new tax incentives introduced in the 2009 Budget now make development of these fields, which are usually delivered by a single well tieback, a viable option.
“At TAQA, we are continuously building our expertise in this area and the development of the Falcon field is an example of our ambitious growth activities.”
TAQA Bratani celebrated the first anniversary earlier this month as dutyholder of its four North Sea platforms: Cormorant Alpha, North Cormorant, Tern and Eider.
The firm has its headquarters at Westhill, near Aberdeen. It has seen rapid growth in the past couple of years and employs 1,200 – 400 staff and 800 contractors – between its onshore and offshore operations.
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