Grove gas field is located in the Greater Markham Area (GMA) on the UK Continental Shelf close to the median line of the UK and Netherlands in the North Sea.
A new well is proposed to be developed at Grove North East, the un-appraised north-eastern limb of the Grove gas field.
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The Grove field and Grove North East are operated by Spirit Energy with 92.5% owner share along with its license partner RockRose Energy holding 7.5% stake. Spirit Energy is a joint venture between Centrica’s E&P business and Bayerngas Norge.
Well development work will start in March 2021 and first production is expected in the third quarter of 2021.
New well development details
Spirit Energy will drill a new platform deviated infill well in the Grove North East area with a potential of delivering net additional reserves of 4.2 million barrels of oil equivalent (mmboe) of hydrocarbons, increasing the life of the Grove field to 2028. The well will also improve the possibility of development in the area.
The Grove North East appraisal well was approved by the UK’s Oil and Gas Authority through its Well Operations and Notifications System process.
The well design is based on the technical complexity of the well, subsurface, value and other strategic fit specifications. The Maersk Resolve jack-up rig, a Gusto-engineered MSC CJ50 high-efficiency jack-up rig designed for harsh environment, will be deployed to drill the well.
Maersk Resolve has a maximum operating water depth of 350ft and can drill to a maximum depth of 30,000ft. The jack-up rig is equipped with 18¾-in 15,000psi blow-out preventer system, dual pipe handling system, two 80t rated deck cranes, one 12t rated knuckle boom crane, and mud pumps, as well as single bed accommodation for 120 workers.
Grove gas field details
The Grove field is located in Block 49/10a in the Southern Gas Basin of the North Sea. It is one of several fields in the GMA hub, including Markham, Chiswick, and Kew fields.
The Grove field is a normally unmanned installation (NUIs) tied back to the J6-A platform, which is the main platform in the Markham field. The J6-A platform is a six-legged steel jacket fixed platform manned processing hub with eight well slots.
The first gas from the field was produced in 2007. In September 2007, 85% operated interest in the Grove field was acquired by Centrica as part of the acquisition of the North Sea gas assets of the Newfield UK Holdings, the UK subsidiary of Newfield Exploration Company.
The Grove gas field produces gas from six wells and the produced gas is processed at the Markham J6-A facilities and transported to Den Helder onshore terminal in the Netherlands via the West Gas transport pipeline system for further processing, conditioning and distribution.
Grove field exploration details
The Grove gas field was discovered by 49/10-1 well in 1971. In 2005, the field was appraised by well 49/10-4, which was drilled by the field’s previous operator Newfield Exploration drilled an appraisal well to a depth of 11,400ft to encounter approximately 120ft of net gas pay in the Leman and Barren Red Measures Sands.
The well tested 25 million cubic feet (mmcf) of gas and 334 barrels of condensate a day. The flow rate was restricted by the testing equipment.
Contractors involved
Maersk Drilling secured the drilling contract worth approximately $11.3m to drill the development well and provide additional services, mobilisation and demobilisation in January 2021.
The contract also includes an option for plugging and abandonment of a well.
