GDF Suez produces first oil from new platform in Dutch North Sea

GDF SUEZ has started oil production at the Amstel field from its newly installed Q13a-A production platform off the Dutch coast.

After the acquisition of 50% into the Q13a offshore production licence in 2010, GDF SUEZ Dutch Exploration and Production affiliate – GDF SUEZ E&P Nederland B.V., the first offshore gas producer in the Netherlands – demonstrated its capacity and expertise in bringing the Amstel field into production in less than 3 years. The company proved the existence of an economically viable amount of oil by successfully drilling an appraisal well at the beginning of 2011.

Jean-Marie Dauger, Executive Vice-President of GDF SUEZ, in charge of Global Gas & LNG Business Line, comments: “This new production from the North Sea illustrates again the capacity of GDF SUEZ, as an operator, to maximize the potential of such a mature region, to leverage the existing infrastructure and to deliver a complex and innovating project in a safe and responsible manner. Amstel confirms the skills of our technical team to manage and deliver fast track projects on budget.”

The high quality light crude oil is transported through a newly-laid 25-kilometer long pipeline to the existing TAQA operated P15 platform, north-west of the Q13a-A platform. The oil is treated on the P15 oil and gas processing facilities before it is transported further through an existing pipeline to a refinery in the Port of Rotterdam. The Amstel field is expected to produce at plateau 15,000 barrels of oil per day, with an expected field production life of 10 years.

The Q13a-A oil production platform is the first GDF SUEZ installed oil producing platform in the Netherlands. Power is supplied to the Q13a-A platform by a 14-kilometer long submarine high-voltage cable, connected to the onshore grid, providing renewable electricity offshore. The platform is secured to the seabed with suction anchors and has electrically driven submersible pumps in the production wells at a depth of two kilometers.

GDF SUEZ is operator of Amstel with a 50% stake, and partners together with EBN at 40% and TAQA at 10%.