Hurricane Energy has confirmed the sail-away of its floating production, storage and offloading vessel (FPSO), destined for its Lancaster field.
The Aoka Mizu FPSO has left a shipyard in Dubai following a series of sea trials, and is sailing to Rotterdam for a final work scope before proceeding to Lancaster.
The Greater Lancaster Area west of Shetland is estimated to hold up to one billion barrels of oil, making it the biggest North Sea find since Buzzard in 2001.
Hurricane said the vessel has undergone a programme of repairs and upgrades at the Drydocks World Dubai shipyard and will be used for the Early Production System (EPS) at the field.
The firm has also confirmed that the last piece of preparation at Lancaster – a programme of rock dumping to protect subsea infrastructure – has also been successfully completed.
First oil is targeted for the first half of next year.
The EPS will involve a two well tie-back to the Aoka Mizu FPSO which will initially produce 17,000 barrels of oil per day.
Last month Hurricane sold 50% of its Lincoln and Warwick licenses to Spirit Energy, which the oil firm said would help it free up cash to appraise and develop the rest of its portfolio.