Hurricane Energy has informed that the acceptance test for the Aoka Mizu FPSO vessel moored over its Lancaster oil field in the UK has been completed with the production of first oil.
The vessel, hooked-up at the Lancaster location in March, completed its start-up phase with a 72-hour production test (“First Oil”) on Tuesday, June 4.
“The combined flow from both wells during this test period reached and maintained the planned production rate of 20,000 barrels of oil per day (“bopd”). This marks the contractual provisional acceptance of the Aoka Mizu FPSO by Hurricane,” Hurricane said.
Hurricane Energy expects anticipates a gradual ramp-up in facilities availability over the first six months of production towards long term operating efficiency of 85%.
“The Company restates existing guidance for facilities availability of three months at 45% and then a further three months at 65%, resulting in average production rates of 9,000 bopd and 13,000 bopd, respectively,” Hurricane Energy said.
Robert Trice , Chief Executive of Hurricane, said: “I am delighted to announce that First Oil has been achieved and that the Lancaster field is now on production, beginning the phased development of Hurricane’s considerable resources on the Rona Ridge.
“Lancaster is the UK’s first producing fractured basement field and the fact that Hurricane has delivered this industry milestone on time and within budget is an incredible achievement. I would like to thank the staff of Hurricane, our Tier 1 contractors, and our shareholders for having the vision to make Lancaster happen.
“We have successfully achieved our start-up data acquisition objectives and commenced the evaluation of this material. Up to 12 months of stable production will be required in order to provide a clear view of the reservoir and enable us to plan for associated full field development scenarios.”