Oil exploration and production firm Serica Energy said today it had agreed plans which could see it producing from its Columbus development in 2014.
The firm has struck a deal with partners and BG International for its central North Sea Columbus field to be tied in to BG’s Lomond field installation through a new bridge-linked platform, to be built by BG.
It follows cost-sharing agreements with the owners of two blocks the field crosses.
Serica said Columbus would benefit from the extended small field allowance announced in the March 2012 Budget, and the firm now hopes to get Department of Energy and Climate Change approval for the project in the middle of this year.
It said development would involve two development wells and a subsea manifold.
Production on the field, estimated to contain 16.7million barrels of proven plus probable oil equivalent, is expected to start in 2014 or early 2015.
The firm also said it was making progress on plans to drill its operated Doyle and South Otter prospects, the latter subject to a farm-in.
Serica is also a partner in the Spaniards discovery, for which an appraisal well is planned for the third quarter of this year.