First oil from Kraken expected by end of June

EnQuest has informed that its Kraken field in the UK North Sea is expected to start producing oil by the end of June.

The Kraken field, to be developed using the Armada Kraken FPSO, is a large heavy oil accumulation located in the East Shetland basin, to the west of the North Viking Graben some 125 kilometers east of the Shetland Islands.

The news on the expected first oil date was shared by the company in an operational update on Thursday. Enquest also said it made „further excellent progress on drilling.“

All drilling is now complete on Drill Center DC1 and DC2 and the rig has moved to DC3, where further excellent progress has been made on the drilling program, the company said.

“Drilling performance to date has significantly de-risked delivery of the project to and beyond first oil. DC1 and DC2 subsea commissioning is complete and ready for operation. The turret pipework and emergency shut down valves have been installed. Nitrogen/helium leak testing has been successfully conducted and the final rotation testing is complete. The boiler systems are running well and the water injection and HSP power pumps have been commissioned. Testing and other topsides and subsea infrastructure final commissioning work is ongoing. Handover of FPSO systems from commissioning to operations continues,”  EnQuest said.

At start up, 13 wells will be available comprising 7 producers and 6 injectors. As with all developments of this scale,  EnQuesst said, wells will be brought onstream in a phased manner in line with good reservoir management practices aiming to maximize long term productivity and value. The project continues to be under budget and on schedule.

The company reaffirmed its guidance for the full year 2017 of average production between 45,000 Boepd and 51,000 Boepd, which reflects the Kraken contribution in the second half of the year 2017.

Production averaged 37,856 Boepd for the four months to end of April 2017, down on the 42,752 Boepd in the same period in 2016, reflecting natural declines in the existing producing assets.