It is the third well drilled in sequence after the two Sillimanite Unit field development wells were successfully brought into production in 2020. Drilling was completed in late October 2020, followed by precommissioning activities.
Sillimanite is a unitized gas field discovered in June 2015. It lies on the continental shelf in the UK and Dutch sectors of the North Sea, approximately 200 km away from the coast (Den Helder). Natural gas is extracted from carboniferous sand reservoirs at a depth of 3,700 meters below sea level. Production started in February 2020 when the first development well came onstream, while the second was put into production later in June that year. The produced gas is transported via a 12-km pipeline located in the Dutch territorial waters from where it is delivered via the NGT (Noordgastransport B.V.) pipeline to the inshore transportation network. The new Sillimanite South field lies within the boundaries of the D-12a block in the vicinity of the Sillimanite Unit field, both merging to form an intertwined production system.
“Professionalism and concerted efforts from everybody involved in the asset have allowed us to expeditiously and successfully convert Sillimanite South from an exploratory well to a production well,” Managing Director of Gazprom EP International Sergey Tumanov says. “This will lead to greater rates and amounts of gas produced from the field. It is also worth mentioning that the continuing COVID-19 risks have compelled and still make us follow the stringent measures in fulfilling all the works. Our primary goal is to create a working environment that would be as safe as possible and also to protect the lives and health of the PoB,” he added.