Centrica, through its subsidiary Centrica Resources, has announced that its operated Seven Seas gas field in the UK Southern North Sea has received development consent from the Department of Energy and Climate Change.
Centrica Resources owns 92.5% of the field and Sojitz Energy Project, a subsidiary of the Japanese company Sojitz, owns the remaining 7.5%. Centrica had acquired the Seven Seas field in Southern North Sea block as part of its GBP242 million acquisition of Newfield UK Holdings in September 2007.
According to the company, the development will initially comprise the subsea tie-back and production of Seven Seas 1 to the existing West Sole Alpha (WSA) platform located 60km off Easington in the southern North Sea.
The Seven Seas project will utilize as far as practicable the existing subsea infrastructure and topside facilities at WSA. The topside process facility will be upgraded where possible to accommodate the introduction of Seven Seas production fluids and will facilitate the future development of other prospects in the area.
It said that hydrocarbons will be processed at WSA and exported to the Dimlington Terminal via the existing 16-inch WSA export line. Platform modification work on WSA and pipe lay work in the field is scheduled for summer 2009.
