Dana Petroleum is the only international oil and gas company to have its headquarters in Aberdeen – and the North Sea is important to the company’s future growth plans.
The $4 billion oil and gas business has 20 operated and 35 non-operated licences in the UKCS.
The company undertakes exploration, production and development activities throughout the Northern, Central and Southern North Sea, West of Shetland, and in the Moray Firth.
Acquired by the Korea National Oil Corporation in 2010, the company also has operations in Egypt, Norway, the Netherlands and Africa.
Currently producing 60,000 barrels a day, Dana has ambitions to grow this to over 100,000 by 2016. Operations in the North Sea contributed around 35,000 barrels in 2012 and this is set to increase significantly by 2015.
Playing a key role in Dana’s growth strategy is the company’s $1.6 Bn Western Isles project which was approved last December by the Department of Energy and Climate Change.
Dana will be the operator in a joint venture with Cieco developing two discovered oil fields called Harris and Barra in the Northern North Sea, 160km east of the Shetlands and 12km west of the Tern field.
The nine-well development is expected to add more than 30,000 barrels (net) to Dana’s daily production when it comes onstream. There are estimated recoverable reserves of over 45million barrels.
Last October Dana took over the operatorship of the Triton floating production storage and offloading vessel (FPSO) from Hess, acquiring its stake in the Bittern field. This was part of the company’s strategy to acquire more operated positions.
Dana UK Managing Director Paul Griffin said, “Our strategy is to move from largely non-operated activities to full-operated field management in the UKCS.
“Flexible, mobile export solutions are the way forward in the North Sea. Operating the Triton FPSO will act as a springboard for developing the kind of operating models we will use when the Western Isles FPSO comes online in 2015.
“The project is a large capital spend for Dana and it is essential we are in the best possible position to capitalise on our new production asset.”
The company secured 22 blocks and partial blocks over seven areas in the North Sea in the UKCS 27th licensing round last year and is active in terms of exploration work. Dana has drilled an average of six exploration and appraisal wells per year over the past three years. Next up is the Magnolia Well in the Moray Firth, which is set to be spudded in February.
Earlier this month, expanding Dana’s non-operated position in the North Sea, first oil was brought on line from Cormorant East, a newly discovered oil field in the Contender block, bringing the company an additional 1,100 boepd.
Paul Griffin commented, “It is this ability to be agile and quick on our feet that gives Dana a competitive edge and will continue to give us new opportunities to grow our reserves in the UKCS.”
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