Oil and gas firm Apache has taken a step forward in its mission to develop the Gair field in the northern North Sea.
The Houston-headquartered company has handed in an environmental statement to the UK Government for the project – a key step in the regulatory approvals process.
Gair will be developed as a subsea tieback to the Buckland field, which in turn is linked to the Beryl Alpha platform, about 100 miles off the coast of Shetland.
Apache said the engineering and procurement of subsea kit was in progress, with offshore construction to start in the second or third quarter of this year.
First oil is slated for the fourth quarter of 2020.
Production is expected to peak next year at a rate of 1,092 tonnes of oil per day and 294,046 cubic metres of gas per day.
Apache owns 60.55% of the licence containing Gair, while Chrysaor has 39.45%.