EnQuest shares documentary as North Sea’s Magnus turns 40

EnQuest (LSE:ENQ) has shared a new documentary which looks back on the past, present and future of the Magnus platform as it approaches its 40th year.

The film features extensive archive footage of the installation over its four decades, and includes interviews with past and present crew who say there is much “life in the place” yet.

Discovered in March 1974 by BP, the field produced first oil in August 1983, celebrated with an inauguration ceremony led by then prime minister Margaret Thatcher.

Fabrication of the Magnus structure began in 1973 at Highland Fabricators’ yard at Nigg Bay in the Cromarty Firth, while topsides were designed by Matthew Hall Engineering.

The 40,000-tonne platform jacket is reportedly the largest single-piece steel structure in the North Sea.

It is also one of the most northerly oil and gas fields in the basin, situated 300 miles south of the Arctic Circle.

Originally commissioned and run by BP, EnQuest took a minority stake in the platform in 2017, and later secured 100% operatorship the following year as part of £230 million acquisition deal that included stakes in the Sullom Voe terminal.

Still drilling at 40

Despite being hit with a series of production challenges and outages in recent years, average production from the platform amounted to some 12,641 boepd last year, EnQuest said in its recent annual results – though production during October 2022 amounted to some 17,000 boepd.

The boost in output comes as a result of well integrity and workover programmes, and the completion of the North West Magnus well in October, the company said.

Additional modifications were also undertaken to allow for indigenous Magnus gas exports of up to 20 Million cubic feet per day.

The company’s planned $160m investment programme for 2023 includes three further infill wells at Magnus, as well as three new wells at Golden Eagle.

However EnQuest chief executive Amjad Bseisu said that the impact of the UK’s energy profits levy would affect the company’s cash flow generation and have “implications for our capital allocation strategy and our UK production growth ambitions” in the coming years.