Serica Energy said today it had overcome technical challenges to perform a flow test on the Rhum gas field’s third production well in the northern North Sea.
The London-listed firm said volumes of more than 10,000 barrels of oil equivalent (boe) per day were flowed during the test, demonstrating the quality of the Rhum field.
Serica said the rate was constrained by the surface well-test equipment on board the WilPhoenix semi-submersible drilling rig.
The company expects the well to produce at higher rates when in full production.
Rhum’s wells are tied back to the nearby Bruce platform.
A diving support vessel has been contracted to install the subsea control equipment required so the well can start producing in Q3 2021.
The third Rhum well had been shut in since former operator BP ran into technical issues during the completion phase.
It required intervention work to bring it online.
WilPhoenix, owned by Awilco, began operations at the field in October.
But Serica said in December that progress had been “slower than anticipated” due to a technical problem with equipment on the vessel and poor weather.
Serica chief executive Mitch Flegg said today: “Operations on R3 have proved more challenging than expected but the skill and dedication of our operational team has enabled us to achieve this welcome result.
“The volumes flowed during the test are equivalent to over 10,000 boe per day which demonstrates the quality of the Rhum asset.
“It was always expected that the flow test results would be constrained by the surface test equipment, but initial analysis of the data recovered indicates that the flow potential of the well is at the upper end of our range of expectations.
“The third Rhum well will enable enhanced production rates from the field and will provide redundancy to support production from the other two Rhum wells.”
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