Hurricane Energy completes horizontal Xmas trees for Lancaster field

A Xmas tree is a stack of valves installed on a subsea wellhead to provide a controllable interface between the well and production facilities. The preparation of the new horizontal Xmas trees has allowed Hurricane to pass the ball to Proserv UK to carry out integration and testing with its intervention workover control systems before loading the trees onto the rig.

The Xmas tree systems were expected to be installed during completion works planned the second and third quarter of the calendar year.

Separately, the floating production storage and offloading subsea control system has also been delivered ex-works by Technip from its facility in Kongsberg and was now being shipped to Dubai, ready for installation on the Aoka Mizu FPSO.

Dr Robert Trice, chief executive of Hurricane, said, "I'm pleased to report that the two horizontal Xmas trees and the FPSO subsea control system have now been successfully delivered. The company ordered the Xmas trees and control system in December 2016 and they were some of the key long lead items that drove the financing schedule in 2017. Their delivery represents a significant milestone in readiness for our 2018 well completion programme."

"I recently visited the Dunfermline facility with our engineering team and was glad that all were impressed by [the] quality of work taking place. We have a fantastic working relationship with TechnipFMC and I'd like to thank them for completing this particularly critical element of the Lancaster EPS development," he added.

As of 0840 GMT, shares had gained 1.25% to 32.99p.