Offshore staff
LONDON, UK --Valiant Petroleum expects first oil later this month from the West Don field development in the UK North Sea. Don Southwest, part of the same scheme, should follow shortly afterward.
Operator Petrofac gained approval for the project from the UK government in May 2008. Both fields are being developed via tie-backs to the floating production semisubmersibleNorthern Producer, which has undergone modifications in readiness for this role.
According to Valiant, a partner in the project, the program remains broadly on budget, although there has been some cost escalation as a result of severe weather delays during the drilling and commissioning phase.
Elsewhere in the UK sector, Valiant is a co-venturer in Fairfield's Crawford re-development. Here front-end engineering and design is continuing -- the current plan, which includes hydraulically fractured wells to maximize production and reserves recovery, will probably be submitted later this year.
In block 211/17, farminee Fox Petroleum failed to drill a well in 2008, with the result that the farm-in agreement has now lapsed. Valiant says the aim now is to reactivate the drilling program at some point in the next two years.
04/09/2009
