Enquest delivers first oil at Scolty/Crathes, lowers guidance

Enquest, the oil and gas development and production company, achieved first oil from its Scolty/Crathes development, but maintenance at the Brent pipeline system was now expected to last longer and start later, resulting in lower average daily full-year production volumes.

Chief executive Amjad Bseisu said: “EnQuest is pleased to confirm the delivery of first oil from Scolty/Crathes ahead of schedule and under budget, approximately a year after the Field Development Plan (FDP) was approved and the project was sanctioned.”

The project was the only offshore pure oil FDP approval in the UK North Sea last year.

“We thank our partners MOL Energy for their support and co-operation. The Oil and Gas Authority was set up to enable Maximising Economic Recovery ('MER') of oil and gas in the UK and Scolty/Crathes is an excellent example of MER being put into practice,” added Bseisu.

Unit operating costs were expected to be under $15 per barrel in the initial peak volume years and production was anticipated to continue until 2025, according to Bseisu.

Chief executive of the OIl and Gas Authority (OGA) Andy Samuel said: “The safe and successful first oil milestone from Scolty and Crathes is testament to EnQuest and MOL's efforts, working at pace and in excellent collaboration with the service sector to create efficiencies and value. This has unlocked the economic recovery of a small pools development and sustains the wider Greater Kittiwake Area and infrastructure. It embodies good asset stewardship which is crucial to achieving MER UK.”

The company also announced that the Floating, Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel Armada Kraken for the Kraken field development is expected to sail from Singapore to the North Sea in the coming days. The journey should be complete by around mid-January 2017 and the project remains on course to deliver first oil in the first half of 2017.

Meanwhile, the outfit had been notified that the Brent Pipeline system was now scheduled to shutdown for third party maintenance for around three weeks, leading to the full closure of the Thistle and Done fields.

The maintenance, which might start during the same week of the announcement, would lead to daily production being below prior guidance of 42,000 to 44,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd), the company said in a statement.

As a result, Enquest now expected average daily production during the full-year to be around the average level delivered to the end of October, of 40,857 boepd.

However, the recovery of reserves was not expected to be negatively impacted as lower output in December 2016 would be moved to later periods.

The share price was flat at 27.50p at 1008 GMT on Monday.