Offshore staff

CALGARY, Canada – Canadian Natural Resources (CNR) has reinstated production at the Olowi field offshore Gabon.

The temporary suspension was caused by the failure of a midwater arch supporting production and gas-lift flowlines and the main power line. This has since been re-secured following a thorough evaluation/testing program.

Output was restored at the Olowi platform C, and CNR now targets production from platforms A and B by late-September.

The outage impacted the company’s second-quarter West Africa oil production, which averaged 21,334 b/d, down 16% from the 1Q 2011 figure.

In the UK North Sea, CNR’s 2Q 2011 North Sea oil production also was down on the prior quarter figure at 32,866 b/d due to natural field declines.

But second-quarter output was above the company’s expectations, partly because of strong performance from the Olive Oyl well which came online last December.

Following the UK government’s decision in March to increase corporate income tax on profits from UK North Sea production from 50% to 62%, CNR has scaled back its development activities in the sector.

It is now maintaining one drilling string, down from the two originally planned. It has also cancelled drilling activity at the Murchison field this year and initiated decommissioning plans for the field’s platform.

08/04/2011