UK: GE Receives Massive Order for Golden Eagle Development

GE Subsea Systems has been selected for the Nexen Golden Eagle Area Development project in the United Kingdom’s central North Sea.

Contracts with the project operator, Nexen Petroleum U.K. Limited, could total more than $170 million over the life of the development, GE reported at the 2012 GE Oil & Gas Annual Meeting being held Jan. 30-31 in Florence.

Facilities for the Golden Eagle development will comprise a combined production, utilities and accommodation platform linked to a separate wellhead platform, with 16 platform-based wells, a phased subsea well development and associated in-field and export pipeline infrastructure.

Under one contract, GE will supply wellheads, Xmas trees and additional equipment for subsea and platform applications. Under a separate contract, GE will provide subsea control systems, including GE’s latest award winning SemStar5 subsea electronics modules. The project schedule calls for equipment to be shipped this year and installed during 2013, with commercial production to begin in late 2014.

“The Golden Eagle project builds on our existing relationship with Nexen and follows successful projects on the Buzzard and Ettrick field developments,” said Rod Christie, vice president of GE Oil & Gas Subsea Systems. “We used a flexible approach to the configuration of the subsea, surface and capital drilling equipment, enabling Nexen to tailor the equipment designs to meet the specific needs of this project.”

The Golden Eagle project reinforces GE’s role as a leading supplier of equipment and services for the U.K. North Sea sector. In addition to providing equipment for many of the North Sea’s offshore exploration and production projects, GE also continues to invest in the region, opening a new hyperbaric testing hall and a refurbished electrical and electronics assembly plant in Nailsea, United Kingdom, during 2011. Two years earlier, GE opened a subsea monitoring and remote technology center at the Nailsea site.

DECC Approval

In October last year, Nexen Inc. received approval from the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) to proceed with the Golden Eagle area development – a GBP 2 billion (C$3.3 billion) investment (GBP 750 million net to Nexen) that is expected to produce an estimated 140 million barrels of oil equivalent (gross) of proved and probable reserves over an 18-year period.

The Golden Eagle development encompasses both the Golden Eagle and Peregrine reservoirs located in central North Sea blocks 20/1N, 20/1 and 14/26a, approximately 43 miles from Aberdeen. The development plan for Golden Eagle incorporates a combined production, utilities and accommodation platform linked to a separate wellhead platform. Plans call for 20 development wells (16 platform-based and four subsea) to be drilled. The development will also include associated in-field and export pipeline infrastructure.

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Offshore Energy Today Staff, January 30, 2012; Image: Nexen