The prize of the UKCS is too big to throw anything less than the industry’s all at, according to the Oil and Gas Authority’s Gunther Newcombe.
Speaking to Energy Voice at Offshore Europe, the director of offshore exploration and production said the industry must approach the basin from a much more regional perspective, shedding its piecemeal approach of side-lining an asset without considering its wider remit.
This approach includes identifying tiebacks from new plays to older infrastructure, he said.
“We’re asking operators have you tried maximising your production efficiency, have you looked at your cost base, have you used all the tools available to you to maximise your asset, because it sits in a bigger region so what you do with it affects other areas,” he said.
“We need to make sure we look at these things in a more systematic, regional way.”
The OGA is currently stockpiling geological data, including its seismic survey, for the wider industry to leverage. The results of the expansive seismic survey will be released in the first quarter of next year.
When probed about the possibility of finding a sister play equal to the Norwegian divide’s landmark Johan Sverdrup, Newcombe said: “If we have the seismic data, the geological maps, and have de-risked the exploration hopefully we will find that Johan Sverdrup that was found in Norway.”
His words come a day after Statoil revealed Sverdrup was 200m from being discovered in 1967.
But he stressed, the UKCS already had its own Sverdrup – just as big and proven but not as loudly lauded.
He said: “There are huge areas that haven’t been developed at all. There are no wells or seismic just the perception of what people think is there.
“But let’s not forget that we have found 3 billion barrels already in the UKCS that we know about that needs to be produced, so we have one or two of these major plays like the Johan Sverdrup already at our disposal.”
Converting data into production includes the OGA working the facilitating front at full throttle.
The executive agency is currently collaborating with Hurricane Energy to bring its Lancaster asset on line.
Newcombe said: “That’s one of our top 20 and we’re working with them quite actively to see if we can come up with an innovative way to access first oil quicker.”
Newcombe also revealed the OGA was on the cusp of confirming another major North Sea project.
He said: “We worked with two operators who were poles apart on where they saw some of the commercials and costs on a project.
“We facilitated with them to get to a place where these two companies will now have the approvals and ability to get this project sanctioned.”
The migration from working in silos to corralling around a unified exploration agenda is critical to unlocking the North Sea’s resources.
And the production prize is reason enough to shift sector culture, according to Newcombe.
He added: “Three billion barrels is a huge prize and we want to develop as much of that as we can.
“If you get the costs down, develop what we know is there and explore the frontier areas I think the North Sea will be successful for decades to come – not just years but decades.”