Falklands exploration company Rockhopper said yesterday that Aberdeen would remain central to any future development in the south Atlantic oil and gas fields.
London-based Rockhopper Exploration, which made the region’s first commercially viable oil and gas discovery in 2010, was speaking at the opening of the Offshore Falklands Summit at the Ardoe House Hotel, near Aberdeen.
Downplaying the political risk from Argentina’s claim to sovereignty over the islands, the firm said the Granite City’s expertise in drilling and subsea work, together with the UK’s political stability and similarities in regulations, would guarantee Aberdeen its position in the supply chain.
Rockhopper’s Sea Lion project, which will cost an estimated £3.26billion, has relied heavily on oil service firms from the north-east.
Oil and gas service firm AGR Petroleum Services has shipped more than 25,000 tonnes of equipment from Aberdeen to Port Stanley over three years to supply drilling campaigns.
Lyanna Farquhar, materials and logistics manager at AGR, said: “The remoteness of the Falkland Islands presented a unique challenge as there were no local mechanisms or infrastructure in place to support a large-scale drilling operation.”
With 20 wells being constructed in the region over two rig campaigns, the high volume of equipment and supplies required the construction of a new logistics base on the islands.
She added: “An initial load was shipped from Aberdeen carrying around 9,000 tonnes of cargo to the newly-constructed base, making this the largest consignment of its kind in history to leave Aberdeen harbour.”
Rockhopper’s operations manager Andy Morrison said that the next few years would be busy as the Sea Lion field, which is estimated to contain more than a billion barrels of oil, entered development, with renewed drilling planned for 2014.
Charles Davidson, chief executive of fellow Falklands explorer US-firm Noble, has said the area could contain more than 6billion barrels of oil.
Tension in the region has risen in recent months with Argentine president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner calling on Britain to relinquish control of the islands.
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