Easington Catchment Area Explained

53.704°N 0.593°WThe Easington Catchment Area (known as ECA) is a group of natural gas producing fields in the Southern North Sea. They lie in UK Blocks 42 and 47 between 25and east of the Yorkshire and Lincolnshire coast. The fields are operated by Perenco.

Development

The Easington Catchment Area project was developed in two phases. The £150 million first phase involved development of the Mercury (Block 47/9b) and Neptune (Blocks 47/4b and 47/5a) gas fields which had been discovered in 1983 and 1985 respectively.[1] The ECA partners were, for the Neptune field: BG Exploration and Production Limited (61%), BP (18%), and Amerada Hess (21%); and for the Mercury Field: BG Exploration and Production Limited (73%) and Amerada Hess (27%).[2]

The Neptune field was developed using three new wells, an existing well and a new NUI (normally unattended installation). The Mercury field was developed with a subsea installation with well fluids produced to the Neptune NUI via a 10-inch diameter pipeline. The Neptune platform consists of a 630 tonne jacket supporting a 681 tonne deck. From the Neptune platform co-mingled fluids are transported to a dedicated riser tower on the Cleeton installation via a 16-inch diameter pipeline. The gas is separated, dried and metered on Cleeton before transmission into the BP Cleeton/Dimlington pipeline system. A contract for the pipelines and subsea facilities, valued at around £23m, was awarded to ETPM UK. Methanol for hydrate formation inhibition is piped from Cleeton to the Neptune platform. First gas was produced in 1999.

Details of the first phase installations are summarised in the table.[3] [4] [5]

Installation!Neptune!Mercury
Block47/4b47/9b
Coordinates53°28’59”N 0°46’59”E53°46’00”N 0°37’59”E
ReservoirRotliegendes sandstoneRotliegendes sandstone
Discovered19851983
Gas in place, million cubic feet465
TypeFixed steel platformSubsea wellhead
Water depth, metres4730
Substructure weight, tonnes63064
Topsides weight, tonnes681
Wells41
Export toCleetonNeptune
Export line length, diameter6.91 km, 16-inch26.5 km, 10-inch
Start of production19991999
Peak flow, million cubic metres/y2,007627
Year of peak flow20012001
Cumulative production to end of 2014, mcm10,9783,069
The production profile, in mcm/y, of the Neptune field was as shown.

Second phase

The £270 million second phase of the ECA project, known as Juno, included the development of the Apollo (Block 47/4a), Artemis (Block 47/3), Minerva (Block 47/3), Whittle (Block 42/28b) and Wollaston (Block 42/28) gas fields.[6] The majority stakeholder for the Juno fields was the BG Group.

The Minerva hub facilities consist of subsea production systems on Apollo and Artemis and a normally unattended installation (NUI) at Minerva. The Apollo subsea wells are tied back via a manifold and pipeline to the Minerva platform. The Artemis appraisal well is also tied back via a separate pipeline to the Minerva platform. Produced fluids from all three fields are co-mingled on the Minerva platform, and the combined flow exported via a 16-inch diameter pipeline to the BG-operated ECA riser tower bridge-linked to the Cleeton complex. The Wollaston and Whittle fields are developed via subsea wells and flowlines tied back via a manifold and a 12-inch diameter pipeline to the ECA riser tower, where they are co-mingled with the Minerva hub fluids. The first gas from the second phase was produced in 2003.[7]

Apollo and Artemis are named from the Greek deities, Minerva from the Roman Deity, Whittle from Frank Whittle the inventor of the turbojet engine, and Wollaston from the Scientist William Hyde Wollaston. The second phase JUNO installations are summarised in the table.

Installation!Apollo!Artemis!Minerva!Whittle!Wollaston
Block47/3b47/342/28b42/28b42/28a
Coordinates53.90000

0.550000

53.916667

0.550000

53.950147

0.594915

54.110306

0.542964

54.114944

0.842167

ReservoirPermian sandstonePermian sandstonePermian sandstonePermian sandstonePermianCarboniferous
DiscoveredJuly 1987August 1974January 1969July 1990April 1989
Gas in place, billion cubic feet300
TypeSubseaSubseaFixed steelSubseaSubsea
Water depth, metres4040405353
Wells2411
Substructure weight, tonnes790120120
Topsides weight, tonnes847
Export toMinervaCleetonCleetonWhittle
Export line length, diameter6.34 km, 8-inch13.28 km, 12-inch14.88 km, 12-inch5.46 km, 12-inch
Start of production2003200320032003
Peak flow, million cubic metres/y392577481
Year of peak flow200420032004
Cumulative production to end of 2014, mcm2,7403,6012,642
The production profile, in mcm/y, of the Apollo field was as shown.In 2009 BP acquired BG Group's share of the Juno fields. In 2012 BP sold its interests in the ECA fields and installations to Perenco.[8]

See also

References

  1. Web site: BG ECA development.
  2. Web site: Neptune and Mercury gas fields.
  3. Web site: Oil and Gas UK – Field data. live. 9 December 2021. www.gov.uk. https://web.archive.org/web/20151027141611/https://www.gov.uk/guidance/oil-and-gas-uk-field-data . 27 October 2015 .
  4. Web site: Inventory of Offshore Installations. live. 9 December 2021. odims.ospar.org. https://web.archive.org/web/20211125041801/https://odims.ospar.org/en/maps/map-inventory-of-offshore-installations-2017/ . 25 November 2021 .
  5. Web site: OGA interactive Maps. live. 9 December 2021. ogauthority.maps.arcgis.com. https://web.archive.org/web/20190126213234/https://ogauthority.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=adbe5a796f5c41c68fc762ea137a682e . 26 January 2019 .
  6. Web site: Juno development underway.
  7. Web site: First gas from Juno.
  8. Web site: Sale of BP assets to Perenco.

External links