Minke, Orca, Sillimanite and Wingate gas fields

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.

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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

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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

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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.

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Neptune Energy submitted a Decommissioning Programme for Minke to the UK Oil and Gas Authority in 2019.[5]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Department of Trade and Industry (1994). The Energy Report. London: HMSO. ISBN 0115153802.
  2. ^ a b "Inventory of Offshore Installations". odims.ospar.org. Retrieved 14 December 2021.
  3. ^ a b "Production from Orca gas field started". www.rwe.com. Retrieved 14 December 2021.
  4. ^ a b "Wingate Field Development" (PDF). assets.publishing.service.gov.uk. Retrieved 14 December 2021.
  5. ^ a b c "Minke Decommissioning Programmes" (PDF). assets.publishing.service.gov.uk. Retrieved 14 December 2021.
  6. ^ a b "Cross-border gas production from Sillimanite field". ocean-energyresources.com. 20 February 2020. Retrieved 14 December 2021.
  7. ^ "OGA interactive Maps". ogauthority.maps.arcgis.com. Retrieved 14 December 2021.
  8. ^ "Oil and Gas UK – Field data". www.gov.uk. 6 October 2016. Retrieved 14 December 2021.