A North Sea operator is targeting “first gas” from its third field this year as a problematic project gets back on track.
IOG, which started up production at its Blythe and Elgood fields in recent weeks, said its Southwark field in the North Sea is expecting first gas in Q4 2022.
Drilling at Southwark has been plagued with problems, causing multiple stoppages.
In October, an issue with the leg of the Noble Hans Deul rig led to the jackup being taken back to shore for inspection.
Then, in January, the rig “spudded” Southwark, but then issues with “excessive movement” linked to seabed conditions meant the rig had to be taken off-site again.
Drilling is expected to now resume in mid-April with first gas in Q4.
IOG warned that the costs associated with the delay since early January will fall predominantly on the licence holders, 50% falling on IOG and the remainder to CalEnergy Resources.
Meanwhile a chemical injection fault has meant that production from the Blythe field, which started production this month, has had to be temporarily shut-in, with a solution to be in place later this week and production to recommence immediately after.
Since Blythe and Elgood started up on March 13 and 15 respectively, Blythe has averaged flow rates of 40 million standard cubic feet per day (mmscf/d) and Elgood has averaged 50 million.
IOG said these are not intended as production guidance and the firm intends to analyse reservoir performance over coming months to give an annual production guidance range.
Blythe, Elgood and Southwark are all part of Phase 1 of Saturn Banks, IOG’s flagship project in the Southern North Sea containing around 410 billion cubic feet of gas.
Chief executive Andrew Hockey said: “Early reservoir performance indicates flow rates at Blythe and Elgood are in a similar range to the clean-up flow tests, which is encouraging. Elgood is producing steadily at over 50 mmscf/d.
“We have experienced some early mechanical issues on the Blythe platform, as may be expected during the start-up phase.
“We expect to resolve a chemical injection issue on the platform this week so that we can establish stable flow from both wells. In parallel, we are pleased to continue our progress towards a safe resumption of drilling at Southwark by mid-April.”