Siccar Point to start drilling on delayed UK project next year

Oil and gas company Siccar Point Energy is moving forward with its Cambo development project, located West of Shetland, which was delayed last year due to the challenging market environment. Drilling operations are now scheduled for 2022 and the first production is expected in 2025.

Siccar Point and its partner Shell had planned to bring the oil and gas project to a Final Investment Decision (FID) in the third quarter of 2020. However, in light of the unprecedented worldwide macroeconomic dislocation resulting from Covid-19, Siccar Point in March 2020 delayed its planned sanction date for the Cambo project.

Siccar Point informed on Monday that an application for consent has been submitted to the UK’s oil and gas regulator, the Oil and Gas Authority (OGA), for the Cambo field development.

An Environmental Statement (ES) has been developed and formally issued to the UK’s Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS). Siccar Point has made the ES, a summary of the project, and the public notice available for consultation. The consultation period will end on 10 July 2021.

According to the company, offshore development activities are currently due to start at the Cambo field in 2021, with the first drilling operation currently planned in 2022. First oil is expected in 2025.

It is worth reminding that, prior to last year’s delay, offshore development activities were supposed to start in 2020, the first drilling operation in 2021, and the first oil was expected in 2023.

The Cambo field, located 125km northwest of the Shetland Islands and in a water depth of 1100m, was discovered in 2002, and subsequently had four appraisal wells drilled up to 2012 and a final successful appraisal well was drilled and flow tested by Siccar Point during the summer of 2018. It is one of the largest undeveloped fields in the UKCS and will open up other prospects for potential development in the area.

The concept for the Cambo project is a dedicated, moored FPSO vessel, which will produce hydrocarbons from two drill centres. The oil will be exported via shuttle tanker and gas will be exported through a new gas export pipeline extending 70 km to the southeast of the Cambo field and will terminate at the West of Shetland Pipeline (WOSPS) Pipeline End Manifold (PLEM) tie-in.

It is proposed that eight new production wells and four water injection wells will be drilled in the Cambo field. Additionally, the Cambo 204/10a-5Y well, drilled as an appraisal well in 2018, will also be completed for production. The Cambo field is expected to produce oil and gas for approximately 25 years.

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