Some 20,000 oil and gas jobs are expected to be created during the construction phase of a £4Bn North Sea development announced today by the UK’s largest independent oil producer EnQuest.
EnQuest’s interim management statement today confirmed that it will extend development of the Kraken Field, east of the Shetland Islands, increasing its own reserves by 50%. The investment, 80% of which the company says will be spent in the UK, is thought to be the largest in the North Sea this year.
EnQuest is a specialist in extending the life of old fields – Kraken is over 25 years old - which fits with current government strategy for the offshore industry. Kraken, located in the East Shetland basin, some 80 miles off Shetland, is a ‘heavy’ oil field, which presents greater technical challenges than extracting from lighter oil fields.
Kraken is expected to produce net peak oil of over 30,000 Barrels of oil equivalent (Boepd), or 50,000 Boepd gross, which should start to come on stream in 2016/17. The field layout will consist of 25 wells tied back to a Floating Production, Storage and Offloading vessel (FPSO).
EnQuest’s other North Sea assets include producing oil fields, major new developments like Kraken, and a portfolio of discoveries. Last month EnQuest acquired 50% of the North Sea’s Greater Kittiwake area assets from Centrica North Sea Oil and 100% of Centrica’s interest in the Kittiwake oil export pipeline.
The company’s new eight storey, 120,000 sq ft headquarters building that will house 500 staff is under construction in Aberdeen.
Photo: Gary Bembridge
