The UK North Sea's first use of a subsea oil storage tank has started, independent operator Premier Oil announced this morning.
First oil on the Solan field, which was developed to use normally unmanned facilities, including subsea oil storage and tanker offloading, was achieved yesterday, 12 April.
The field, discovered in the 1990s, is in 135m water depth, 95km from the Scottish coast and 55km from the UK/Faroes median line.
It has been developed using a steel jacket supported platform, designed to produce over a 20-year lifetime, producing an expected total of 40 MMbbl.
Uniquely, the development has a 10,000-tonne subsea oil storage tank capable of storing 300,000 bo. Produced oil is sent to the tank before being exported via a single anchor loading system to shuttle tankers.
The first producer well (P1) is being naturally flowed at a deliberately restricted initial rate, according to Premier Oil, which plans to leave it free flowing for a short time, before turning on an electrical submersible pump.
An accommodation vessel, the Superior Flotel, which is contracted to Premier until the end of May, is due to be used for a planned production shut down to complete the final commissioning of the water injection plant, the tie in of the second water injection well (W2) and preparation for the tie in of the second producer well (P2).
The Ocean Valiant drilling rig is currently drilling the second producer well (P2y), where 1500ft of high quality reservoir sands have been intersected and which is expected to be completed and tied-in by mid-year.
Production from the field is expected to build up to an anticipated production rate of 20-25,000 boe/d in 2H 2016, when both pairs of producer-injector wells will be on stream.
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Image: Solan topsides installation. Photo from Heerema Marine Contractors.
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