A new name in North Sea oil and gas said yesterday it had already achieved a “major milestone” by installing a bridge-linked platform for the £1.6billion Montrose Area Redevelopment (MAR).
Operator Repsol Sinopec Resources UK (RSRUK) – previously Talisman Sinopec Energy UK – added the work paved the way for the next phase in a project to unlock an additional 100million barrels of oil equivalent (boe) and extend the life of the Montrose area to beyond 2030.
Topside infrastructure weighing 10,500tonnes was placed on the platform jacket by the SSCV Thialf crane vessel and then linked by bridge to the Montrose Alpha installation – one of the oldest in the North Sea – about 130 miles east of Aberdeen.
Work on the new platform will now focus on commissioning and the integration of wells, with first production from the Shaw field expected in the first quarter of 2017.
Welcoming the latest stage of efforts to further exploit an area 40 years after Montrose Alpha was installed in 1976, Oil and Gas Authority chief executive Andy Samuel said it was an “important milestone … which adds new fields and significant reserves, and also maximises economic recovery.”
The Montrose area includes the Montrose, Arbroath, Arkwright, Brechin, Wood, Godwin, Shaw and Cayley fields.
MAR, which involves significant modification and expansion of existing infrastructure and the development of three new fields – Godwin, Cayley and Shaw – as well as a new platform, is expected to result in peak production of up to 40,000 boe per day.
RSRUK – a new joint venture between Spain’s Repsol and China’s Sinopec – has a 58.97% stake, alongside Japanese-owned sole partner Marubeni Oil and Gas (UK).
Repsol has been involved since its £5.3billion takeover of Canada-based Talisman Energy last year.
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