Serica Energy achieves first production at Columbus field

North Sea-focussed upstream oil and gas company Serica Energy updated the market on its Columbus field in the Central North Sea on Thursday, announcing that first production had been achieved.

The AIM-traded firm said hydrocarbons from the C1z development well started flowing into the Arran subsea system on 24 November.

It said the commingled Arran and Columbus production streams were now being exported to the Shearwater platform for processing, and onward export to gas and liquid sales points.

Columbus was expected to be producing at its potential by early December.

“This marks a significant milestone for Serica as it reaches the successful conclusion of its first development project,” said chief executive officer Mitch Flegg.

“The company was involved in the original discovery of Columbus and has acted as operator through the appraisal and development phases and now into operations.

“I look forward to updating the market in mid-December by which time we expect to have ramped up production to a stable level.”

Flegg said Serica's approach to increasing its production base and providing “much-needed” energy to the UK, while seeking lower-carbon emission solutions, had been achieved by using shared existing infrastructure to progress the development of Columbus.

“This has been a complex project and I would once again like to acknowledge the skill, hard-work and dedication of our project team, the Shearwater and Arran Operators and our joint venture partners Waldorf Production UK and Tailwind Energy.”

At 1123 GMT, shares in Serica Energy were up 4.41% at 215.61p.