According to information released by the UK’s Oil and Gas Authority (OGA), more than three billion barrels of oil equivalent (boe) remain in approximately 350 unsanctioned discoveries across the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS).
OGA said on Tuesday that the majority of the three billion are in ‘small pools’, defined as less than 50 million boe technically recoverable, which are located within potential tieback or extended reach drilling distance to existing infrastructure.
However, the industry body said, some these small pools lie far from existing infrastructure and therefore require stand-alone solutions to recover hydrocarbons.
Analysis of the unsanctioned discoveries was conducted by OGA as part of the Technology Leadership Board’s (TLB) Small Pools Work Group which completed detailed maps of the discoveries.
The analysis was supported by The National Subsea Research Initiative (NSRI), Centrica, EnQuest and The Industry Technology Facilitator (ITF).
Carlo Procaccini , OGA Head of Technology, said: “We recognize the challenges operators are facing to develop these marginal oil and gas accumulations. Small pools represent a very significant opportunity to maximize economic recovery (MER) from the UKCS.
“Technology has an important role to play to reduce the cost of development wells, design optimized subsea infrastructure to existing host facilities and develop efficient standalone concepts.”
OGA published an Information Pack regarding the analysis following a series of small pool themed ‘hackathons,’ facilitated by the NSRI, which took place last year with around 100 companies participating. From these, more than 100 ideas, technologies, and efficiency measures were generated that could assist with unlocking the small pools.
OGA said that the technologies short-listed for further screening were those that could reduce subsea tieback costs, including mechanical hot taps, mechanically connected pipelines and spooled pipeline products, as well as novel concepts for efficient standalone solutions such as subsea storage, unmanned production buoys, and small, versatile floating facilities.
Also, Oil & Gas UK’s Efficiency Task Force looked at near-term efficiencies in subsea installations, achievable through simplified design and standardized equipment.
Gordon Drummond , project director of NSRI and member of the TLB, said: “Small pools have a national importance in terms of achieving MER and they must be considered as an industry asset if they are to be capitalized upon.
“Following an extensive mapping exercise, we now know exactly where these small pools are located and what is required to unlock their potential. If the subsea industry can rise to the challenge of economically tapping into these pools, the North Sea could have a whole new lease of life.”