Update on UKCS Field Development Projects - Intsok

Field Gateway Gas Storage
Area Morecambe Bay
Operator Stag
Development concept Platform
Transport concept 2 x 24km pipelines to Barrow
Start-up 2014
Comments: In Feb the £600m Gateway Gas Storage project, which is due on stream in 2014,
received a gas storage licence from the government. The project involves the development of
1.5 bcm of gas storage capacity in Morecambe Bay block 110/3b some 24 km from Barrow.
The project, which is managed by Stag Energy, was granted a licence for the offshore works
and had its environmental impact assessment approved last year, when it also received
planning approval to build a gas compression station at Barrow. Amec, Parsons Brinkerhoff
and Senergy have been engaged to perform FEED in the lead-up to the investment decision
which has been rescheduled to late 2010. Major supplies and services have been tendered to
provide a good grip on costs. Twenty man-made storage caverns will be created by a leaching
process conducted through boreholes drilled from the surface by a jackup rig. Each well will be
completed on a 150-200t unmanned monopod wellhead platform. Gas will be transported to
and from shore via a 36in pipeline loop running out to the storage complex, around all the
monopods and back to shore. Each monopod will be connected to the ring main by a short
10in feeder pipe. A 4in methanol line will be strapped to one of the lines. The pipeline sections
between the shore and the complex will be trenched. Power will be supplied from shore via a
66kV cable.
Field Golden Eagle Area
Area Central North Sea
Operator Nexen
Development concept Fixed platform or floater, + subsea tiebacks
Transport concept Pipelines and/or offshore oil loading
Start-up 2014
Comments: With three finds in close proximity in block 20/1 – Golden Eagle, Pink and Hobby
– Nexen is planning a joint development involving stand-alone facilities – this could be a fixed
platform or a floater. There will be three or more drilling centres, the farther ones involving
subsea tiebacks, Nexen says. For export all options are open – it could involve new or existing
infrastructure or offshore loading. Project sanction is scheduled for 2010 but start-up will not
take place until 2014. Reserves in the area are estimated at 150m bbl or higher, according to a
Feb statement, and development is economic at $40/bbl. RDS has been contracted for drilling
facilities conceptual design services. Drilling activity was intense last year. Hobby was
discovered in Feb 2009, after which three appraisals were drilled on it, while an appraisal was
also drilled on Pink. Further wells are planned, including one on the Lily prospect. Golden
Eagle was discovered in 2007 and Pink in 2008.
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