The topic of collaboration—or rather, the general lack thereof—was a major feature of PETEX 2014’s opening day conference sessions, with the offshore industry being urged by keynote speaker Sir Ian Wood to do much more in order to survive.

But on Day 2 at PETEX there was a clear example of a U.K. project where collaboration is very much alive and well. The Glenlivet gas field was discovered by DONG Energy E&P in 2009 when well 214/30a-2 (drilled by the Transocean Rather rig) tested a seismically defined stratigraphic and faulted closure at intra-Tertiary level. Gas-bearing reservoir sands with excellent properties were hit, with two further sidetracks proving up net pay of 63 m (207 ft).

The field is now planned for development by operator Total, with DONG still being a partner, and first gas is planned for 2018 via two wells tied back via the Edradour discovery to its Laggan-Tormore subsea field pipeline.

According to Richard Nice of DONG Energy E&P U.K., speaking at PETEX on Nov. 19, the field is a great example of operating companies partnering together in order to make a marginal discovery and others nearby economically viable.

“In 2010 at the time of drilling, Glenlivet was stranded,” Nice said. “It didn’t seem, given the estimated recovery that we could get out, that it could be developed very easily. But in spite of this initially, we were looking at whether the gas could be exported by its own tieback to the Shetland Islands gas plant. This pipeline would have had to be 90 km to 100 km [56 miles to 62 miles] to get there. But we decided that this was just not going to be economically feasible, despite being technically possible.

“But between 2009 and 2014 a lot changed in the West of Shetland [region],” he continued. “We have further developments of Laggan and Tormore and the completion of the Laggan-Tormore pipeline. Also in 2011 and 19 km [11.8 miles] south of Glenlivet you have the discovery of Edradour, a small gas accumulation, and this provided an opportunity. We were thinking maybe the four of these fields could become a gas hub, and all of them could be exported through the Laggan-Tormore tieback to the Shetland gas plant.”

Nice outlined how DONG and Total then talked about whether it was technically and economically feasible to power the subsea installations at Laggan-Tormore and also the extraction of gas at Glenlivet and Edradour, all tied back 35 km (21.7 miles) into the Laggan-Tormore infrastructure, rather than building an extra pipeline. “Of course, this made much more economic sense,” Nice said.

Earlier this year Total took an 80% share in Glenlivet and operatorship of the field itself, to go with its existing 80% share in the other nearby fields.

“We are still involved in Glenlivet,” Nice said. “First gas is expected in 2018, and this will be just nine years since the discovery. We think it’s a real success for both us and Total, and also for the UKCS [U.K. Continental Shelf]. This also pre-empts the Wood Report, as we clubbed together and came to a solution before the Wood Report was produced.

[However], it addresses a couple of important issues, I think, around the development of frontier areas like the West of Shetland [region].

“First, there was the need for operators to focus on maximizing economic recovery for the U.K., and this point was actually focusing more on optimizing the extraction of hydrocarbons based on existing infrastructure,” he added. “We feel we excelled in this case. Second, the need for greater constructive collaboration between operators and the credit goes to our commercial teams. The joining together of the assets and the equalizing of assets to form this hub and exporting through the one pipeline to the Shetlands gas plant was another success.”

Nice also described Glenlivet as a West of Shetland success story on a number of other fronts, with the field being discovered and appraised via a single drilling campaign, with data acquisition also a vital factor for a robust geological and geophysical model. The subsurface team put together not only all the pre-drill information, but also tied in the seismic and other data to “produce a great depositional model that we were comfortable with.” Early data were also vital to making quick management decisions to drill the field’s appraisals—wells that were not originally planned but were quickly agreed upon based on what was discovered.

Offshore