Offshore staff

CALGARY, Canada – Ithaca Energy says both downhole electrical submersible pumps (ESPs) in its Jacky field J01 production well in the UK North Sea have developed electrical faults under routine operations.

Both were installed in early 2009 in the original completion of the J01 well to maintain production. Ithaca says plans to replace both units.

The well currently is free flowing, delivering around 700 b/d of oil. Under ESP support, however, production was close to 2,800 b/d, as measured at the Nigg storage facility in eastern Scotland.

Elsewhere, drilling is progressing on Jacky’s J03 well, following earlier operational difficulties. The well is at 5,400 ft (1,646 m) MD, and 13-in. (33-cm) casing has been set.

Ithaca intends to free-flow the J01 producer until J03 has reached the target reservoir formation, the Beatrice `A’ Sand, and undergone completion. This operation will likely continue until mid-May.

The Northern Enhancer rig (currently stationed over the Jacky platform) will then perform a workover to replace the failed ESPs in J01, probably a 15-day operation.

At Beatrice, the third workover well on Beatrice Alpha, A28, has been partly completed. A28, which had been shut in December 2009, is currently free flowing at 130 b/d.

The fourth and final workover of this campaign is under way on the A21 well, after which the focus will switch to retrofitting of an ESP in well A28.

04/19/2011