Offshore staff
(North Sea) - A small oilfield linked to the North Sea Oseberg field has started production from one of three planned wells that will produce 25,000 b/d of oil when fully developed, says operator Norsk Hydro.
The subsea Oseberg west flank field is about 10 km northwest of theOseberg Field Center and contains about 27 MMbbl of oil and 3.5 Bcm of gas.
The field contains recoverable reserves of 27 MMbbl of oil and 3.5 Bcm of gas.
The rigDeep Sea Delta has drilled the first production well, which is 3,729 m long, and enters the upper part of the Statfjord formation.
In order to ensure effective utilization of the resources in the field, a water injection well will be drilled from theOseberg Field Center.
Deep Sea Delta will continue work on the west flank in parallel with the drilling from Oseberg Field Center.
The rig has now started drilling a new production well with two branches.
Later, a third well will be drilled to the west flank from the underwater installation.
Oseberg Field Center receives the oil, which is led through pipelines on the seabed.
Vetco Aibel has undertaken the conversion of Oseberg field center, whileSubsea 7 has laid pipelines and control cables.
The underwater installation has been produced by FMC Energy Systems.
Hydro is operator with a 34% stake in the field. Its partners are Norway's state-owned Petoro (33.6%), Statoil (15.3%), Total (10%), ExxonMobil (4.7%), and ConocoPhillips (2.4%).
02/10/06