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Clipper South gas field lies in the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS) of southern North Sea blocks 48/19 and 48/20. The gas field is situated about 100km east of the Lincolnshire coast.RWE Dea UK, which has a 50% equity share in the gas field, is the owner. Fairfield Energy and Bayern Gas each hold 25% equity in the project.The approval for the development of the field was sanctioned by the government in March 2011. The field platform was installed in August 2011. Drilling works for the first well of the proposed five wells began in February 2012 and the first gas was delivered in August 2012.#Clipper South discovery, geology and production#Clipper South gas field was discovered by Shell in 1982. The field reservoir is situated in wind-blown Permian age sandstones belonging to the Rotliegend group. The source of dry gas is the Carboniferous coal measures underneath the sandstones.The gas field has a reserve of around 13.4 billion cubic metres of gas and an estimated production life of 15 years. The depth of water at the production site varies from 22m to 26m. The gas reservoir is located around 2,500m below the sea floor.The field began gas delivery at a rate of 1.2 million cubic metres per day in the initial stages. The production is expected to increase by 2.8 million cubic metres per day by early 2013 and reach up to 100 million cubic metres per day when all the five wells are completed.#Development details of Clipper South gas field#Columbus Gas Field, United KingdomColumbus is a condensate-rich gas field located primarily in Block 23/16f, which covers an area of approximately 20 square miles (51.8km²) in the central North Sea, in a water depth of 85m.The development of the Clipper South gas field comprises of drilling five horizontal wells and inducing several hydraulic fractures in each well. The depth of the wells will range between 3,876m and 5,866m.Two appraisal wells were drilled in 1992. The discovery well was drilled in 1982 prior to the appraised wells.The first well which is currently online was drilled by Ensco 92 rig. It was drilled by inducing eight hydraulic fractures. The depth of the well is about 4,903m.The piled jacket for the gas field’s platform weighs 1,279t and measures 40m in height. The steel platform weighs about 2,000t, is about 39m high and accommodates up to 40 people.Clipper South will be operated unmanned from the LOGGS facility in the near future. Power will be generated by three output generators that have a capacity of 47kW each.Gas from Clipper South gas field will be transported to the Lincolnshire Offshore Gas Gathering System (LOGGS) operated by ConocoPhillips through the well head platform and a 12in pipeline.A 15km pipeline has been laid to connect the gas field to LOGGS. A three inch pipeline for providing methanol and corrosion inhibitor is also piggy-backed to the pipeline system. The pipelines were laid one metre below the seabed.The gas is refined at LOGGS and then transported onshore to the Theddlethorpe gas terminal in Lincolnshire through a 36in pipeline where it is connected to the UK grid.#Contractors involved#The project was first awarded to Shell, and Esso (now ExxonMobil) who held a 50% share each. Fairfield Energy acquired the stakes in the gas field from the two companies in March 2008.Fairfield sold 50% of its stake in the project to RWE Dea UK in July 2009. The company further sold 25% interest in the field to Bayern Gas in September 2010. RWE Dea is providing £20m ($25.4m) funding for the project while Bayern Gas is providing £10m ($12.7m).Technip was contracted to provide the pipeline design, installation and project management services.The contract for constructing the jacket, platform and the piles was awarded to Heerema Vlissingen. The platform was installed by Seaway Heavy Lifting.The integrated control and safety systems (ICSS) for the project will be installed by Honeywell Process Solutions (HPS).