Project Profile
Value: Undisclosed
Location: Outer Moray Firth, 120km northeast of Aberdeen, UK
Start-up Year: August 2009
Production Rate: 30,000 boe per day
Water Depth: 366ft / 100 metres
The Ettrick field is located in the Outer Moray Firth, 120km northeast of Aberdeen in blocks 20/2a and 20/3a in the UK sector of the North Sea. The field is operated by Nexen with an 80% working interest, Bow Valley Energy (a subsidiary of Dana Petroleum) with 12% and Atlantic Petroleum with 8% interest. Discovered in 1981, Ettrick was appraised by seven wells between 1982 and 1985. The reservoir at the field mainly lies within the upper Jurassic Ettrick sandstones, while the Zechstein reservoirs lie in the Jarvis structure. Bow Valley was acquired by Dana Petroleum in April 2009. Following the acquisition, production from Ettrick was to be increased by commissioning a gas system.
Although production was to start in 2008, it was delayed because of delivery problems of the leased FPSO due to the unavailability of third-party labour at the Singapore construction yard. Ettrick\'s first oil was produced in August 2009. The production rate was maintained at 30,000 boe per day to test the design capacity of the FPSO. The initial production was restrained by gas compression in order to optimise the field\'s future production of 20,000 bpd. Production was increased to full capacity in 2010. The Ettrick field development, which includes three subsea production wells and one water injector to be tied to the FPSO, was authorised by the UK Government in July 2006.
Bluewater won the contract for Ettrick\'s production facilities and operations. Bluewater designed, supplied and operates the FPSO, including topsides and a disconnectable turret mooring system. The FPSO has a capacity to handle 30,000 bpd and 35 mcf per day of gas. Its capacity to re-inject 55,000 barrels of water per second was deployed in August 2009. In July 2010, AMEC was awarded a contract to provide engineering and maintenance services to the Aoka Mizu FPSO for two years. The contract for installing and connecting subsea pipelines, umbilicals, risers and structures for the field was given to Sonsub. The flexible risers and umbilical were installed by Sonsub in 2008. In April 2006, NKT won the contract to provide a flexible package including 12 flexible risers and flowlines for the project.
Phase 1
Phase 1 includes production wells P1, P2 and P3, and water injection well, I5, drilled at the manifold location and tied-back to the facility via two infield flowlines and flexible risers.
Phase 2
Phase 2 consists of a remote water injection well, I2, drilled, then tied to the water injection infield flowline and umbilical. I2, and a potential I1 well, will be tied-back to the manifold.
Ettrick field decommissioning programme (approved by BEIS and implemented in parallel with Blackbird field decommissioning): phase 1: Subsea scope 1, comprising DTB, risers, MWA, moorings, to be completed by end-2017. Phase 2: wells plug and abandonment (P&A) to be completed within window of Q2 2018 to Q4 2019, although expected execution is by end-Q1 2019. Phase 3 Subsea scope 2, comprising manifolds, flowlines, overtrawl trials, to be completed within window of Q1 2018 to Q4 2020, although expected execution is by end-Q3 2020. Phase 4: post-decommissioning survey to be completed within window Q2 2019 to Q4 2020. Projected costs disclosed to UK Department of Business and Energy (BEIS) but not yet publicly released.
Operators:
Nexen: Operator with 79.73% working interest,
Bow Valley Energy (a subsidiary of Dana Petroleum): 12% interest
Atlantic Petroleum: 8.27% interest
Contractors:
AMEC: Provide engineering and maintenance services
Bluewater: Production facilities and operations. In June 2016 Bluewater received a contract cancellation from Nexen for the FPSO Aoka Mizu producing from the Ettrick field. The production from the field will cease on June 1, 2016 and decommissioning of the vessel will start from that date.
Dolphin Drilling: Drilling semi-submersible drilling rig Borgsten Dolphin
Hitazhi Zosen Corporation: Delivered the offshore barge
NKT Flexibles: Provide a flexible package including 12 flexible risers and flowlines
Sonsub (a subsidiary of Saipem): Installing and connecting subsea pipelines, umbilicals, risers and structures
Harkland: ROVSV inspection services work
Xodus Group: Contract with Nexen Petroleum U.K. Limited to provide Front End Engineering and Design (FEED) services in support of the decommissioning of the Ettrick and Blackbird fields in the central North Sea. The workscope will assess the best practice decommissioning methods for the main items of field architecture, including the structures, flowlines, umbilicals and risers. The work involves developing the decommissioning methodology for the field taking account of current industry best practice to ensure a technically robust decommissioning solution is developed.
Subcontractor:
DNV London: Performed the main vessel conversion work for Bluewater