The Minke, Orca, Sillimanite and Wingate fields are natural gas reservoirs and gas production facilities in the southern North Sea ; they are close to, or straddle, the United Kingdom / Netherlands median line. Natural gas, which is routed to the Netherlands , has been produced from the fields since 2007.
The fields.
The Minke, Orca, Sillimanite and Wingate fields (UK Block 44) are located north of the Greater Markham Area gas fields (UK Block 49) which also straddles the UK / Netherlands median line.[ 1] [ 2]
Minke and Orca are named after species of whale, Sillimanite is named after a mineral. Details of the gas fields is summarised in the table.[ 3] [ 4] [ 5] [ 6]
Field data
Field name
Minke
Orca
Sillimanite
Wingate
Blocks
44/24a (UK)
D15 (Netherlands)
44/24a, 44/29b, 44/30a (UK)
D15b, D18a (Netherlands)
44/19a (UK) D12A, D12B (Netherlands)
44/24b (UK)
Year discovered
January 1993
December 1993
July 2015
2008
Original licensee
Wintershall
RWE Dea UK
Wintershall Noordzee
Wintershall
Gas reservoir
Carboniferous
Carboniferous
Carboniferous
Westphalian B sand bodies
Development
The gas fields were developed by offshore platforms, subsea wellheads and pipelines. Details are summarised in the table. [ 3] [ 4] [ 5] [ 6] [ 2] [ 7]
Installations
Field
Minke
Orca
Sillimanite
Wingate
Block
44/24a (UK)
D18a (Netherlands)
D12 (Netherlands)
44/24b (UK)
Installation name
–
D18A-a
D12-B
Wingate
Installation type
Subsea wellhead
Fixed steel platform
Fixed steel platform
Fixed steel platform
Coordinates
54° 15.1300’N 2° 44.5067’E
54° 18.994’N 02° 37.176’E
Installed
2007
2013
2020
2011
Water depth, metres
32
54.3
41.5
29
Substructure weight, tonnes
26.75
900
Topsides weight, tonnes
–
1,240
4
950
No. of legs
–
4
–
4
No. of Wells
1
3
Gas export to
D15-FA
D15-FA
D15-FA
D15-FA
Export pipeline length, diameter
3.7 km (UK) + 11.2 km (Netherlands), 8-inch
20 km, 8-inch
10 km
20.56 km, 12-inch
Pipeline number (gas)
PL2401
PL2850
Control umbilical/ methanol supply
From D15-FA
–
Methanol from D15-FA
Umbilical length, diameter
14.9 km, 90.6mm
–
20.56 km, 2-inch
Umbilical/Pipeline number (methanol)
PLU2402
–
PL2851
Production
Gas production from the fields is summarised below.[ 8]
Gas production
Field
Minke
Orca
Sillimanite
Wingate
Operator
GDF Britain then Neptune Energy
GDF SUEZ E&P
Wintershall Noordzee
Wintershall Noordzee
Start of production
June 2007
2013
2020
2011
Peak flow, million cubic metres/y
133
129
793
Year of peak flow
2007
2014
2012
Cumulative production to end of 2014, million cubic metres
150
1,321
Status
Production ceased 2010
Operational
Operational
Operational
Production from the Minke field in mcm was:
Production from the Orca field in mcm was:
Production from the Wingate field in mcm was:
Decommissioning.
Neptune Energy submitted a Decommissioning Programme for Minke to the UK Oil and Gas Authority in 2019.[ 5]
See also
References