Project Profile
Value: Undisclosed
Location: Block 22 / 2a, Central North Sea, 290km east of Aberdeen, Scotland
Reserves: 6.8m barrels of oil equivalent
Start-up Year: September 2008
The Chestnut oil field is located in block 22/2a in the Central North Sea, about 290km east of Aberdeen, Scotland, in 120m of water. Venture Production Plc is the operator with a 69.9% interest, Bow Valley Petroleum holds 15.1% and Atlantic Petroleum has 15%. Venture acquired a 5% stake in the field in 2001 and increased that holding to just less than 70% after its previous owners – a consortium including Amerada Hess, Premier Oil Exploration, Roc Oil UK, Fina Petroleum Development and AGIP UK – deemed it unviable as a standalone development. Originally discovered in 1986, it is one of the smallest and oldest undeveloped standalone oilfield developments in the North Sea, and the project illustrates an emerging trend in oil exploration. Venture, which specialises in exploiting such stranded, untapped reserves, drilled a new, vertical water injection well and is re-using the horizontal production well drilled by the original consortium.
Operators:
Venture Production Plc: Operator with 69.9% interest
Bow Valley Petroleum: 15% interest
Atlantic Petroleum: 15% interest
Contractors:
Wood Group: Operations management contract
Sub contractor:
Teekay: Provide services to a floating production, storage & offloading unit