Serica Eyes Columbus First Gas Date
Thursday 6 April 2017
Serica Energy is aiming for first gas at its Columbus field in the UK North Sea in 2020 or slightly before as two development options continue to do battle for the UK operator’s wallet.
The London-based company is working towards a field development plan for the gas and condensate find in blocks 23/16f and 23/21a by the end of this year, with a view to beginning development work next year.
First gas is currently being targeted by late 2019 or in 2020, it said on Thursday.
Serica is still studying two development options, each of them involving single-well option. The first involves drilling an extended-reach development well from the Shell-operated Lomond platform some 5 kilometres away. The second involves tying back a subsea well to a third party pipeline and then to Shell’s Shearwater platform.
However, early indications are that the first option offers the cheaper development cost.
“The Lomond platform has spare well slots and a jack–up rig can be utilised to drill a well into Columbus from the platform,” Serica said.
“The advantage of this route is that there is no pipeline or associated subsea equipment required and consequently time to hook up the well and bring it on production should be much shorter than would be required for a subsea well.
“A platform well also has the advantages of easy access for future well maintenance interventions and lower-cost abandonment.
“Columbus production into the Lomond platform is likely to benefit the Erskine and Lomond fields by reducing unit operating costs whilst improving the product mix and could result in deferring the date of platform abandonment thus increasing reserves recovery.”
Of the second option it said: “This would be a longer offtake route and the Columbus development well would be drilled as a subsea completion. The advantages of this option are shorter drilling time and the potential for lower unit operating costs.
“However, there would be an overall increase in development costs and there would be greater complexity involved in coordinating with a separate field development, which is expected to result in a longer development timeline.”
Serica is meanwhile gearing up for a well on the Rowallan high-pressure, high-temperature prospect on Block 22/19c, where it has a 15% stake. Detailed well planning is under way, with a vessel to be deployed in the summer to perform a site survey and drill geotechnical boreholes in preparation for drilling of a wildcat next year.
“The prospect is located within Serica’s core central North Sea area, close to Erskine and Columbus,” it said.
“There are similarities to the nearby [Maersk Oil-operated] Culzean field, with the well targeting the same age Jurassic/Triassic reservoir sands and a fault-and-dip closed trap.”