Less than a month after the Erskine field in the North Sea resumed production, following a prolonged shut-in caused by pipeline blockage, the field has yet to reach its full output.
The Chevron-operated Erskine field includes a normally unattended platform and is remotely controlled from Shell’s Lomond platform. An 18.6 mile (30 km) pipeline links the two platforms.
Following the restart on July 27 , it had been planned that the Erskine field would ramp-up production to pre-shut-in levels following a brief pipeline clean-up operation in the first week of August.
However, it seems the Erskine field will have to wait some more. Namely, Serica, a partner in the Erskine field, has been informed by Shell, the operator of Lomond, that the work on recommissioning on Lomond export facilities has taken longer than planned.
Further work is required on the main Erskine condensate export pump, located on Lomond, before it can be brought fully on-line. This now means that resumption of full, continuous production of Erskine has been delayed.
Serica did not provide the exact date of the expected production ramp-up, but said Shell had advised “that this is likely to take several more days.”