Kraken Production Rate on Plan
Thursday 30 November 2017
- Kraken production rate on plan
- Kraken is achieving month on month increases in production and by early November average production rates were around 23,000 Bopd gross. The second production processing train was brought onstream later in November, with rates of over 40,000 Bopd gross being achieved.
- The second and third cargo offloads were completed in October and November respectively. The quality of the crude has been well received by buyers; the latest sale of a cargo was contracted at a discount to Brent of less than $5 per barrel, this level of pricing has been achieved earlier than targeted.
- The final DC2 production well has been brought online. Excellent drilling performance has continued with the drilling of the DC3 wells nearing completion and ahead of time. The process of bringing the DC3 wells onstream has commenced early and plans to drill DC4 in 2018 are being developed.
- On the basis of this strong performance and subject to continued progress on plant uptime, EnQuest continues to expect production at Kraken to reach 50,000 Bopd gross during H1 2018.
EnQuest CEO Amjad Bseisu said:
“We are making good progress in delivering the ramp up of Kraken, with average Kraken production increasing each month. We have now achieved production rates of over 40,000 bopd gross with DC3 wells online earlier than planned. We are on track to deliver a Kraken production rate of 50,000 Bopd gross during H1 2018.
We had a significant planned maintenance programme in Q3 2017, which reduced production in the ten months to the end of October by c.1,800 Bopd. Overall, our non-Kraken assets are now delivering as per our plan post this programme.
We have hedged c.4 mm bbls at c.$59\bbl for H1 2018 and with our large capital programmes behind us, are on plan to reduce our debt in 2018.”
The Kraken development
First oil from Kraken was delivered on 23 June 2017. The four wells from drill centre 1 (‘DC1’) and the three wells from drill centre two (‘DC2’), have produced at initial gross rates above expectations and with stabilised flow rates which confirm the Field Development Plan. The sum of DC1 maximum individually tested well rates have been approximately 24,000 Bopd, with stabilised combined well rates at approximately 15,000 Bopd. One DC2 well has been tested at a rate well above 10,000 Bopd, demonstrating excellent reservoir properties and completion efficiency. Water injection wells have performed in line with expectations.
DC3 wells are nearing completion, substantially ahead of schedule. The process of bringing the DC3 wells onstream has commenced early and plans to drill DC4 in 2018 are being developed. The second production processing train was brought online during November. This second train and DC3 are both further facilitating reaching the expected 50,000 Bopd during H1 2018.
Full cycle gross Kraken project capex is estimated to be c.$2.4 billion, 25% down on the original sanctioned cost of $3.2 billion. The previously announced latest c.$100m of capex savings on the project resulted from the excellent delivery of the DC3 drilling programme and also the lower market rates for the remaining subsea campaign.