Petrofac Regulatory News (PFC)

29 Apr 2009 07:00



29 April 2009

PETROFAC LIMITED

WEST DON COMMENCES PRODUCTION

Petrofac, the international oil & gas facilities service provider, is pleased to announce the commencement of production from the West Don field in the UK North Sea.  Petrofac Energy Developments is Operator of the field with Valiant Petroleum, Nippon Oil Exploration and Production (UK) Ltd, Stratic Energy and First Oil as its development partners.

Production from the field commenced on 28 April, less than one year from receiving field development programme (FDP) approval. Peak production from West Don is expected to be in the region of 25,000 barrels of oil per day (bopd).

Petrofac is also Operator of nearby Don Southwest and holds a 60% interest in the field. Commencement of production from Don Southwest is expected towards the end of the second quarter of 2009.   Peak production from both fields is expected to reach in excess of 40,000 bopd.

Amjad Bseisu, chief executive, Petrofac Energy Developments commented: "The commencement of production from West Don is an excellent achievement for Petrofac and its co-venturers. The Don development is a great example of Petrofac's integrated approach; co-investing alongside our partners and drawing on the market-leading expertise of Petrofac's service capability to develop the  asset  effectively and efficiently. This cost-effective, fast-track development has not been without its challenges and my thanks go to all who have made this achievement possible. We look forward to future phases of development of the Don Area in collaboration with our partners."

Ends

For further information contact:

Bell Pottinger Corporate & Financial +44 (0) 20 7861 3232

Ann-marie Wilkinson

Olly Scott

Notes to Editors

West Don

West Don is located in the northern North Sea, approximately 150 km northeast of the Shetland Islands and 12 km north of the Thistle field in a water depth of approximately 500ft. 

The Northern Producer floating production facility, which recently finished an assignment on the Galley  field, will be utilised for processing fluids from both fields ahead of export. It has been secured for field life under a lease arrangement, with lease cost based on an oil throughput tariff dependent on Brent oil prices.

Oil export from the Northern Producer will take place initially via offshore tanker, switching to pipeline export via a subsea tie-back to existing infrastructure in due course.

Petrofac Energy Developments assumed operatorship of West Don after purchasing a 40% equity interest in Block 211/18a (West Don Area) from former co-owners BP and Conoco in February 2006. The West Don field straddles Blocks 211/13b and 211/18a (West Don Area) (licences P.1200 and P.236 respectively). Owners of the two blocks agreed a fixed field unitisation, which resulted in Petrofac owning 27.7% of the West Don unit.

The West Don field was discovered in 1975 by well 211/18-9 that contained oil in sandstones of the Middle Jurassic Brent Group. The West Don reservoir comprises circa 470ft thick Brent sandstones. The under-saturated oil is held in an elongate easterly dipping, fault bounded reservoir at a depth of greater than 10,600ft.

Don Southwest (Don SW)

Petrofac Energy Developments assumed operatorship of Don SW after purchasing interests from former co-owners BP and Conoco in December 2006. Petrofac as operator holds 60% equity in licence P.236 (Block 211/18a-Don Southwest Area) with the sole partner Valiant North Sea Limited holding 40%.

Don SW is an oil field comprising 450ft thick Brent sequence sandstones, as producing in the nearby Thistle and South Magnus fields. The under-saturated oil is held in a combination of dip and fault traps at a depth of 11,000 to 11,500ft. 

Petrofac

Petrofac is a leading international provider of facilities solutions to the oil & gas production and processing industry, with a diverse customer portfolio including many of the world's leading integrated, independent and national oil & gas companies. Petrofac is quoted on the London Stock Exchange (symbol: PFC).  

The group delivers services through seven business units: Engineering & Construction, Engineering & Construction Ventures, Engineering Services, Offshore Engineering & Operations, Training, Production Solutions and Energy Developments.

Through these businesses Petrofac designs and builds oil & gas facilities; operates, maintains and manages  facilities and trains personnel; enhances production; and, where it can leverage its service capability, develops and co-invests in upstream and infrastructure projects. Petrofac's range of services meets its customers' needs across the full life cycle of oil & gas assets.

With more than 11,000 employees, Petrofac operates out of five strategically located  operational centres, in Aberdeen, Sharjah, Woking, Chennai and Mumbai and a further 19 offices worldwide. The predominant focus of Petrofac's business is on the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS), the Middle East and Africa, the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and the Asia Pacific region.

For additional information, please refer to the Petrofac website at www.petrofac.com.