Serica Energy plc announces the issue of tender documents for development of the North Sea Columbus field. The Field Development Plan provides for the supply of 51.3 million cubic feet of gas per day at peak to the UK gas market and 3,600 barrels per day of condensate and natural gas liquids (NGLs) with the recovery of proven and probable reserves estimated at 78 billion cubic feet of gas and 4.8 million barrels of condensate and NGLs.
The planned development of the Columbus field is a significant step for Serica. Tender documents are being issued to pre-qualified contractors for the fabrication, installation and hook-up of subsea facilities and for the provision of associated subsea equipment and systems. Field development is scheduled to commence in 2H2013 with first production targeted for the summer of 2015.
The Department of Energy and Climate Change has indicated its approval of the Field Development Plan subject to certain standard requirements which include completion of financing arrangements. The field will be developed in parallel with the construction by BG of a Bridge Linked Platform (BLP), to be connected to the nearby producing Lomond field, and will be linked to the BLP via a 7.7km pipeline. With tender submissions now received for the BLP and the tendering process now underway for the Columbus subsea facilities, Serica can progress the financing alternatives which are available for the field development.
Serica has a 33.2% interest in the Columbus field and is field operator. It is also involved in several other active gas projects offshore UK, including work underway on the Doyle and Darwen North prospects in the East Irish Sea. It has a 37.5% participation in a 3-D seismic programme to evaluate gas prospectivity adjacent to the Centrica operated York gas field, which started production on 1 March, and it has a carried interest in Block 22/19c in which potentially significant deeper prospects are under evaluation.
Tony Craven Walker, Chairman and Interim CEO , said:
“The Columbus field is a valuable asset and core to our North Sea interests. Whilst we await certain consents I am very pleased that Serica, and its partners in the field, are able to announce this important step towards field development today. The project will bring much needed gas to the UK but will also provide Serica with a valuable cash flow which will enable it to build on other projects with significant future growth potential. These include projects underway elsewhere in the UK and the potentially transformational prospects which we have identified for drilling in our Namibian, Moroccan and Irish licences.”
[mappress] Press Release, March 06 , 2013