Production has been suspended at the TotalEnergies-operated Edradour field west of Shetland, amid reports that increased water output is causing issues.
A “technical issue” has forced output to be temporarily curtailed, licence partner Kistos (LSE:KIST) has confirmed.
Reports suggest the issue may be linked to the management of produced water across the wider production hub.
Edradour lies within the Greater Laggan Area (GLA), alongside the producing Laggan, Tormore, and Glenlivet gas fields around 85 miles west of Shetland.
A single-well development, Edradour is located in Block 206/4a in approximately 300m of water, and tied back via a 10 mile link to the main Laggan-Tormore flowline.
Gas from GLA is brought ashore to the Shetland Gas Plant (SGP) at Sullom Voe via a long-distance 90-mile flowline.
“Production from the Edradour field has been temporarily suspended due to a technical issue which is expected to be resolved in due course,” Kistos said in a statement.
“Within the wider Greater Laggan Area, Kistos and its joint-venture partners continue to progress the Edradour West and Glendronach developments and look forward to updating parties on these later in the year.”
TotalEnergies (PAR:TTE) holds a 40% operated stake in the area, alongside partners Ineos E&P UK (20%) and a RockRose Energy subsidiary (20%), while Kistos acquired its 20% stake in a £123m deal last year.
Greater Laggan had been expected to meet up to 6% of UK gas demand once fully on stream, but plateau production rates failed to meet expectations. Output in 2022 fell to around one-third of its 2018 peak rates, at just 1.5 billion cubic metres.
TotalEnergies declined to comment.
High hopes for Edradour West
Despite the setback, Kistos remains bullish on the area’s wider prospects, having signalled its readiness to sanction the Edradour West and Glendronach developments this year.
If approved, a development programme at Edradour West is expected to begin by the end of 2023, the firm said last month.
A final investment decision (FID) on Glendronach is also expected in the second half of this year.
Meanwhile, drilling at the nearby Benriach prospect – hailed as a UK North Sea “well to watch” – is now underway, with hopes of proving mid-case resources of 638 billion cubic feet of gas.
Drilling at Benriach got underway in March using the Transocean Barents rig, and is expected to wrap up between July and September.
If successful, it’s hoped the play could open up follow-on prospects in the GLA.
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