Finlaggan gas field located in the Central North Sea, UK, is being developed by Zennor Pathway, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Zennor Petroleum. It is being developed as a subsea tie-back to the Britannia platform operated by ConocoPhillips. The Britannia platform is located 20km north-east of the project area.
The drilling of Finlaggan production wells was started in July 2018 and completed in April 2019. Offshore installation works for the project are expected to be completed by the end of 2019.
Scheduled to come online by the end of 2020, the Finlaggan field is expected to produce up to 2.3 million cubic meters (Mcm) of gas and 4,500 barrels of condensate a day, over its estimated life span of 15 years.
Zennor secured approval from the UK’s Oil & Gas Authority (OGA) to develop the Finlaggan gas field, which is estimated to contain 30 million barrels of oil-equivalent (Mboe) of recoverable gas condensate reserves, in October 2018.
Project Gallery
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The Finlaggan gas and condensate field is located in the Central North Sea, UK. Image courtesy of Zennor Petroleum.
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The first gas from the Finlaggan field is expected by the end of 2020. Image courtesy of Zennor Petroleum.
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The Finlaggan field is being developed as a subsea tie-back to the Britannia processing platform. Image courtesy of Chevron.
Zennor Petroleum secured major off-take agreements for the export of Finlaggan production through the Britannia facilities, the Forties pipeline system, the SAGE terminal, and the Shell Esso Gas and Associated Liquids (SEGAL) system, in March 2019.
Finlaggan gas field location, discovery, and appraisal
Spread over 36.6km², the Finlaggan gas and condensate field is located in block 21/05c of production license P2013 on the United Kingdom Continental Shelf (UKCS), approximately 165km off the Scottish coast of Peterhead.
Discovered by ConocoPhillips in 2005, the gas and condensate field was appraised by Zennor Petroleum with the drilling of the 21/5c-7 appraisal well and the 21/5c-7Z sidetrack in July 2016.
The 21/5c-7Z appraisal well witnessed 40 million cubic feet per day (Mcfd) of gas flow and 3,120 barrels per day (bpd) of condensate flow from the lower Cretaceous gas condensate accumulation of the Finlaggan field.
Finlaggan gas and condensate field development details
The Finlaggan gas field development comprises the subsea development involving two production wells (F1 and F2) along with a production manifold and an electrohydraulic control umbilical tied-back to the existing Britannia platform.
Operated by ConocoPhillips, the Britannia production platform (CBL) located in the UKCS Block 16/26 is an eight-legged steel platform with a14-slot subsea manifold.
The Finlaggan production wells will be connected to the Britannia platform through a 20km-long and 10in-diameter carbon steel production pipeline.
The production pipeline will be linked to a subsea isolation valve at the Britannia platform via a 50m insulated tie-in spool.
Zennor Petroleum acquired 8.97% working interest in the Britannia field from Mitsui E&P UK, in September 2018.
Gas and condensate transportation from Finlaggan
The gas resources produced by the Finlaggan field will be transported onshore from the Britannia platform to the Scottish Area Gas Evacuation (SAGE) terminal in St. Fergus, Scotland, using the existing pipeline infrastructure.
The condensate produced from the field will be exported to the Forties Unity platform, which is operated by INEOS, from where it will be further transported to the Kinneil refinery near Grangemouth, Scotland.
Financing for Finlaggan gas field development
Zennor Petroleum secured £170m ($220m) in Senior Secured Term Loan Facility for the Finlaggan gas field development in October 2018.
The loan facility was syndicated and underwritten by the Societe Generale, London Branch to BNP Paribas, DNB (UK) and Nedbank.
Societe Generale and Nedbank were the mandated lead arrangers, while Investec Bank and Barclays Bank were lead arrangers of the debt facility.
Contractors involved
Transocean was contracted to deploy its Sedco 704 drilling rig during the appraisal of the Finlaggan gas and condensate in July 2016.
Petrofac provided the well design and well construction management services during the appraisal phase, under a contract awarded in February 2018.
TechnipFMC is responsible for the manufacturing and installation of subsea pipeline and umbilical for the Finlaggan development project.
Proserv was contracted for the engineering, supply, and installation of a subsea control system for the Finlaggan project, in May 2017.PD&MS and Xodus were engaged for the front-end engineering and design (FEED) studies of the project, while the environmental impact assessment report was prepared by Orbis Energy.