Oil major Chevron has made the Final Investment Decision (FID) to proceed with the first phase of the Captain Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) project in the UK sector of the North Sea.
Chevron North Sea Limited is the operator of the Captain field, which is located approximately 68 miles offshore north of Aberdeen.
The Captain EOR project is expected to increase the overall recovery rate from the field by the application of polymer technology, the company said on Friday.
Stage 1 of the EOR project, which follows several EOR pilot programs at Captain, is an expansion within the existing Captain platform area of the field, with up to six long-reach horizontal injection wells.
Greta Lydecker , Managing Director, Chevron Upstream Europe, said: “Sanctioning Stage 1 EOR at Captain is an important milestone in the development of the technology, which we believe will improve the recovery rate from older fields and help extend the life of assets. The application of advanced EOR technology in the North Sea supports the UK government’s strategy of Maximizing Economic Recovery (MER UK) of its offshore energy resource, and this is in direct alignment with Chevron Upstream’s strategy of extracting value from our existing asset base.”
Oil & Gas Authority (OGA) Area Manager, Eric Marston , said: “Polymer EOR has the potential to increase recovery, extend field life and stimulate field redevelopments; so I’m very pleased to see the Captain EOR project move forward, helping maximize recovery from this field. Chevron, along with BP, Shell and Statoil, has been a driving force behind the industry-led EOR task force. I commend their openness in sharing their lessons learned with the wider industry and their contribution to the OGA’s ‘Polymer Enhanced Oil Recovery – Industry Lessons Learned’ publication which will be published shortly.”
The Captain Field was discovered in 1977, in Block 13/22a located on the edge of the outer Moray Firth. The billion-barrel field achieved first production in March 1997 – 20 years ago this year – thanks to technology developments in horizontal drilling and down-hole pumps. The installation comprises a Wellhead Protector Platform (WPP) and Bridge Linked Platform (BLP) connected to a floating production, storage and offloading vessel (FPSO). Chevron North Sea Limited holds 85 percent and is the operator of the Captain field, Dana Petroleum (E&P) Limited holds 15 percent.