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North Sea

Increasing the recovery rate has to be at the top of the list. Steam assisted gravity drainage is commonly applied onshore, but offshore the energy costs are prohibi- tive. Techniques such as polymer food- ing are showing promise, but application offshore needs improvement. Mariner will keep producing for at least 30 years, and in that time it will see many new technologies implemented.

I suspect the answer lies in the focused application of all the technologies mentioned and many more. If shales or heavy oils and the like are what the

The Category J future is pinned on, something has to rig concept. change. The message is repeated often.

Operator and service partners must work closely to develop the tools badly needed. Operators themselves will have to work closely, regardless of commer- cial affliations. The importance for our children’s energy future may just usher in a new way of working together. As I have said on many occasions, “we are in this together.” Oh, and a higher oil price would be nice, but we leave that up to the gods of supply and demand.

Ingolf Søreide gave a keynote speech about heavy oil at the SPE’s

European Artifcial A Category J rig,

Lift Forum in artist’s impression.

Aberdeen, SPE the production. In addition, energy is as multi-lateral branch wells, autono- EuALF 2014, on 17 required to lift the oil, since it is unable mous infow control devices and a novel June. He is a vice to fow on its own. Wells are commonly rig to change out pumps when neces- president with Statoil, heading up the UK equipped with expensive downhole sary. Modern advanced seismic surveys North Sea Mariner feld development, electrical submersible pumps. Working in have enabled us to see reservoirs that which received government approval in harsh downhole conditions, the pumps were invisible to the specialists in 1977. February 2013. Søreide has almost 30 need regular maintenance and replace- Another game changer is a well design years’ experience in the oil industry, ment using expensive rigs. Once the oil that injects light condensate downhole, mostly at Hydro and Statoil. He has been is on surface, the challenges continue. mixing with the heavy oil. The resultant involved in R&D in Statoil and is

Separating heavy oil from water is diff- product is a blend that refners are very member/chairman of the board of cult and water disposal is a challenge. As happy to take. directors in Christian Michelsen if that was not enough, the refners would So is it case closed for heavy oil? Research. He recently moved to Aberdeen rather take the light Brent, and heavy Unfortunately, not yet. Mariner made it to lead the Mariner project through the crudes often sell at a discount. because it holds 2 billion bbl. What will it execution phase. He holds an MSc and a

So what made the difference on take to unlock smaller offshore deposits? PhD in Petroleum Engineering from the

Mariner? In one word, technology. Certainly, subsea well and produc- Norwegian University of Science and

Specifcally, the application of tools such tion technology are likely to be key. Technology in Trondheim, Norway. jacket in cooperation with the UK ofces of will be able to operate at 70-150m water production or injection are planned for at 1492m, and the shallower Heimdal

Canada’s SNC Lavalin. Ofshore installa- depths and drill wells down to 10,000m. Mariner. While the number of well slots at reservoir, at 1227m. The oil is heavy tion of the platform jacket is scheduled Category J is a tailor-made jackup rig for the platforms is less, this will be solved with API gravities of 14.2° and 12.1° and for mid-2015, followed by topsides during operations in harsh environment on both using multi-branch technology, side-tracks viscosities at reservoir conditions of 67cP 2016. surface- and subsea wells in the shallow- and reuse of slots. and 508cP, respectively for Maureen and

Drilling will be carried out from the PDQ water segments on the NCS. Mariner is on the East Shetland Heimdal. drilling rig, with a jackup rig assisting for The overall development proposal Platform of the UK North Sea, about Statoil is the operator of the feld the frst 4-5 years. Statoil is planning to includes 50 wells and 92 sidetracks at 150km east of the Shetland Islands. It with 65.11% equity, with partners JX use a new category J rig on Mariner, oper- Mariner and four wells at Mariner East. consists of two shallow reservoir sec- Nippon Exploration and Production (UK) ated by Noble Corp. The category J rigs More than 140 reservoir targets for tions—the deeper Maureen formation, (28.89%), and Cairn Energy (6%). • oedigital.com August 2014 | OE 123 122_OE0814_Geofocus6_Statoil.indd 123 7/23/14 2:58 AM