Chevron-operated Erskine field in the UK North Sea is still affected by a pipeline blockage that started in January.
The Erskine Field lies approximately 150 miles (241 km) east of Aberdeen, in water depths of about 296 feet (90 m). It is operated by Chevron (50 percent) with Chrysaor (32 percent) and Serica Energy (18 percent) holding non-operated interests in the field.
On January 22, 2018, during routine pipeline cleaning operations of the Lomond platform to Everest condensate export pipeline, a blockage occurred in the pipeline.
At the time, Serica said that the Erskine field would not be able to produce due to the issue.
By January 29, a de-blocking operations started with an aim of delivering a permanent solution for the wax condition.
On that occasion Serica noted that, notwithstanding the difficulties with downstream export facilities, the wells and reservoirs in Erskine continued to perform as expected, giving encouragement that when the operating efficiency of the Lomond infrastructure improves, Erskine wells would be capable of reaching production rates that would help recover production lost due to downtime.
On Friday, March 9 Serica Energy said that, following deployment of specialist pumping equipment, some communication across the blockage has been achieved and the plan is to continue with pressure pulsing until significant breakthrough.
In parallel, a permanent solution to the pipeline wax problem is being advanced, the company concluded.
Offshore Energy Today Staff