Environmental Statement - Maersk Oil

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Balloch Field Development Environmental Statement
Section 2 Proposed Development
GPIII topsides. Modelling can be used to predict how much condensate will be generated and the
impact it may have on base production. This will be clarified during the early production phase of the
initial appraisal/production well. It is predicted that low and mid case Balloch profiles can be
accommodated within the existing GPIII topside processing capacity. However, as Balloch is an under‐
appraised development there is potential for a much higher profile to be realised, thereby increasing
the condensate liquid loading. The development plan mitigates this uncertainty by optimising
Balloch, Donan and Lochranza production jointly, monitoring the impact on the facilities and
managing the condensate production within the safe operating limits of the GPIII topside processing
facilities. GPIII process optimisation studies have identified steps that could be taken to de‐
bottleneck the condensate handling constraint, allowing production from Balloch, Donan and
Lochranza to be further optimised if required. Any deferred base production required to
accommodate initial peak flow rates may be recovered by extending the field life.
Continuous future gas availability for fuel and start‐up of the GPIII is uncertain. It is envisaged that at
some point GPIII gas export will no longer be sufficient or suitable for export and/or use as fuel gas on
downstream production facilities (NSP and Piper). As a consequence, gas will be imported via the
export line from Piper/Saltire; a project is already in progress in this regard.
As Balloch has a higher reservoir temperature than Donan, subsea cooling spools will be required for
the Balloch wells. The initial production well will have a dedicated cooling spool while the proposed
second and third wells will be connected to a second cooling spool. Dedicated subsea multiphase
flow meters will be installed at the Balloch wells.
Directional drilling is planned as the wells are offset from the reservoir. This was selected as the most
viable option as it involves the smallest amount of pipelay to connect the wells to the DC2 manifold.
The subsea field layout is shown in Figure 2‐5.
The GPIII FPSO is located approximately 2.5 km southwest of the proposed Balloch well (Figure 2‐1).
Condensate and gas is exported to the NSP for onward transport to Piper B which is located
approximately 12 km west‐southwest of the proposed Balloch development. The NSP is based on the
conversion of a 10,000 deadweight tonnage (dwt) petroleum tanker previously known as the Dagmar
Maersk.
Figure 2‐2 Global Producer III FPSO.
Production is expected to commence from the Balloch field in Q3 2013 and run to the end of 2019.
However it is possible that field life of the GPIII will be extended via infill well drilling and tiebacks that