Project Profile
Location: East Shetland Basin, northern North Sea
Start-up Year: 1980
Reserves: 340 MMBBL (recoverable)
Production: 45,000 BOPD
Water depth: 512 ft (156 metres)
The Murchison oil field forms part of the Brent oil province in the East Shetland Basin, northern North Sea. The field straddles the UK-Norway international boundary with the greater portion in the UK Block 21 l/19a and the lesser portion in Norway Block 33/9. Water depth is 512 ft BMSL. It was discovered in 1975 and began production with Conoco (UK) Ltd as Operator, in 1980. Like many oil accumulations in the East Shetland Basin the trap consists of a northwesterly dipping rotated fault block of Jurassic-Triassic age sourced and sealed by unconformable Upper Jurassic shales. The productive reservoir consists of Middle Jurassic Brent Group sandstones which represent the south to north progradation of a wave/tide influenced delta system. The Brent Group on Murchison has an average thickness of 425 ft with average porosities of 22% and permeabilities in the 500-1,000 md range in producing zones. The maximum hydrocarbon column thickness is approximately 600 ft. The oil is undersaturated and no gas cap is present. Recoverable reserves are 340 MMBBL from a total oil in place figure of 790 MMBBL. Oil production, which is via a single steel jacket platform, peaked at 127,000 BOPD in 1983 and currently averages 45 000 BOPD. Economic field life is expected to be at least 20 years.
Decommissioning:
The decommissioning activities at the Murchison platform commenced in Q4/13. It is estimated that the decommissioning efforts will continue for approximately 5 years.
**Murchison Oil field: Wells decommission, topsides, platform operations and detailed removal engineering, all to be completed by end-2017, window until Q2 2019. Next stages of programme under way, including pipeline spools removal, window until Q2 2019; topsides removal, window until Q4 2019, jacket removal, window until Q4 2020, onshore disposal by end-H1 2018, window until Q1 2021. Debris clearance and surveys to be executed between H2 2018 and Q4 2019, window until H1 2021, with close-out report to follow. Projected costs disclosed to UK Department of Business and Energy (BEIS) by CNRI but not publicly released.** DF, 03/01/2018
Operator:
Canadian Natural Resources: Operator with 77.80% interest
Wintershall: 22.20% interest
Contractors:
Aker Solutions: Decommissioning contract
KCA Deutag: Drilling and completion services contract
Stork Technical Services: Provision of integrated caisson integrity management services
Wood Group Integrity Management: Manage pipeline, project management, engineering, construction and commissioning services
AF Gruppen ASA (AFG) & Heerema Marine Contractors Nederland SE: Contract with CNR International (U.K) Limited, for the removal and disposal of the Murchison Platform in the North Sea covering a major contract for engineering, preparation, removal and disposal (EPRD) of both the topsides and jacket structure, altogether a total weight of approximately 37,000 tons.
Petrofac: Contract renewals for operations and maintenance work worth approximately US$400 million on the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS). The largest of these awards is for the provision of operations and maintenance teams for CNR International across its North Sea assets—the three platforms in the Ninian complex; Murchison; and Tiffany—for the next five years.
STATS Group, Paradigm Flow Services and Halliburton: isolated, de-oiled, plugged and abandoned two 3.5” subsea flowlines as part of the Murchison decommissioning project. (August, 2016)
- Paradigm’s Flexi-Coil technology
- Halliburton’s Thermatek fluid system
- STATS utilized their hot tap installed inISEP isolation tool
Subcontractors:
Bilfinger Salamis UK: Contract for the supply of the fabric maintenance services support and access solutions by Aker Solutions for the first stage of decommissioning CNR International\'s Murchison Platform