Taqa: Harding to resume production “within days”

Taqa is set to resume production from its Harding offshore platform following a recent shutdown caused by a power outage and water leak.

“I can confirm the process of restarting production has begun and we expect to be back to full production within days,” a Taqa spokesperson told Offshore Energy Today on Wednesday.

Taqa on November 21 closed production from the UK North Sea platform and removed non-essential workers citing issues with main power generation, and a water leak, resulting in a loss of accommodation services.

The Harding platform is a jack-up production unit serving as a manned production facility for the Harding Field, in Block 9/23b, 320 kilometers North-East of Aberdeen in the Central North Sea.

Asked about the previously reported issues with the platform, and the crew status, the spokesperson said: “All issues were resolved and we decided to remain shut down and implement a previously planned shutdown workscope which is now complete.  We started up-manning the platform again at the start of last week (28th/29th November).”

Taqa has a 70% interest in the installation and is the operator. The other partner is Maersk who holds 30%. The Harding oil field covers an area of approximately 20 square kilometers.

It has 16 oil production wells, three water injection wells, one gas injection well and two aquifer lift wells.

Oil from Harding is exported via a 24-inch diameter oil export pipeline to submerged tanker loading system.

Offshore Energy Today Staff