EnQuest has revealed plans to build a new pipeline from its northern North Sea Thistle (SEN, 32/03) Field to Cormorant Alpha, because of the decommissioning of the Dunlin (31/03) Field infrastructure.

The current 16-in. Thistle oil export pipeline route runs 30 km to Dunlin before heading on to Cormorant Alpha and the Sullom Voe terminal, but Fairfield Energy’s decision to shut-down Dunlin has left EnQuest with a bit of a headache.

John Cowie, in charge of the northern North Sea area for EnQuest told delegates at the Share Fair in Aberdeen this week, “One unforeseen blow has been that Dunlin is going to be decommissioned. “We are looking at a pipeline project to bypass Dunlin. We’re in the select phase at the moment and will take that through to sanction next year.”

Cowie told SEN that a number of options are still being considered. “At some point in the decommissioning programme that export route will become unavailable to us and we will have to do something to find an alternative.

“The most likely thing is we will bypass Dunlin with a subsea pipeline. One option might be to build a new drag pipeline all the way down to Cormorant Alpha from Thistle. We could go direct all the way with a new pipeline or we could build a bypass around Dunlin which would be shorter.

“We have got an option to tanker offload as well but I think that is fairly unlikely.”

He said the existing export route should still be in place for the next couple of years, however.

The planned pipeline highlights EnQuest’s desire to continue to invest in its North Sea assets.

The company, which is the largest independent oil producer in the North Sea and has just started up production on the Alma/Galia field (see separate story), bills itself as one of the new breed of operators in the region who have come in and made the most of ageing assets.

It initially took over the three producing hubs at Thistle, Don and the Heather and Broom fields before taking on operatorship of the Greater Kittiwake area.

EnQuest will pump around 35 Mboe/d this year and has production efficiency running at 90%, according to Cowie.

“From a place where those field were becoming unsustainable we have come in to invest. It’s about getting the assets in the right hands.

“We have doubled production on Heather from 4 Mb/d but with well-placed wells you can make massive changes. Kittiwake production is also up to 8 Mb/d.

“In the northern North Sea we’re the only people drilling. People are decommissioning and abandoning but we’re the only ones making investments in the northern North Sea and we’re doing that very successfully.

“We’re a lot more streamlined and agile than a supermajor. Everybody wants to know how we do it.”

EnQuest will spend US$600 million in Capex this year, reflecting its ongoing investment at Alma and Kraken.

Plans are also being finalised for the next step in the Kittiwake project with tiebacks planned from the nearby Scolty and Crathes fields.

The company’s Quad 9 Kraken FPSO project is also on track, on budget and on-schedule for first oil in 2017, Cowie said.

Offshore