Arran is a 60km subsea tie-back to the Shearwater platform, with an estimated life of the development of around 12 years

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Arran gas and condensate field is part of the Shearwater gas hub. (Credit: Kristina Kasputienė from Pixabay)

Royal Dutch Shell has announced the start of production from the Arran gas and condensate field in the UK North Sea

Located nearly 240km east of Aberdeen, the field is located in a water depth of 85m.

Developed and operated by Shell, Arran is a 60km subsea tie-back to the Shearwater platform, with an estimated life of the development of around 12 years.

Discovered in 1985, the field is expected to produce around 100 million standard cubic feet per day of gas and 4 000 barrels per day of condensate.

Connection to Scottish petrochemical facilities, the Arran gas and condensate field is part of the Shearwater gas hub.

The field lies in blocks 23/11a, 23/16b and 23/16C in production licences P359, P1051 and P1720 in the Central North Sea, UK.

The field development plan (FDP) for Arran was submitted to the Oil & Gas Authority (OGA) in September 2018. The field development included drilling of four new development wells.

Natural gas and liquids produced from the wells will be transported through a subsea pipeline to the Shearwater platform.

In May 2019, offshore installation and construction company Subsea 7 secured contract for the Arran gas field development.

The contract included construction and installation of 60km of mechanically lined pipe-in-pipe production flowline, together with subsea structures and tie-ins at the Arran and Columbus gas condensate fields and the Shearwater platform.

In July this year, Shell commenced production from the Barracuda Project in Block C, offshore Trinidad and Tobago.

The backfill project is estimated to produce nearly 25,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d) or 140 million standard cubic feet per day (mmscf/d) of gas.