Green light for Zennor’s Finlaggan field development

UK independent Zennor Petroleum has received approval from UK’s Oil & Gas Authority (OGA) to proceed with the Finlaggan field development in the UK Central North Sea (block 21/05c).

Zennor owns a 100% of the Finlaggan field. The development project to recover 26mmboe of 2P gas condensate reserves will include two subsea production wells tied back 20km to the ConocoPhillips-operated Britannia platform.

First production from Finlaggan is expected in 4Q 2020, Zennor said in a statement on Monday.

It is worth reminding that Zennor in September entered into a sale and purchase agreement with Mitsui E&P UK Limited for the acquisition of an 8.97 percent working interest in the Britannia field.

The 13,000-ft-deep Britannia field is located 130 miles northeast of Aberdeen in approximately 450 feet of water. The field began production in 1998. The field has two manned platforms, the original Britannia drilling, production and accommodation platform and a smaller bridge linked platform was added later at its eastern end.

The Finlaggan development wells are currently being drilled by Transocean’s Paul B Loyd Junior drilling rig. The first of the two development wells, F1, has been successfully drilled through the reservoir section and is cased, cemented and ready for completion and clean-up later in the drilling program, Zennor said.

The subsea construction contract has been awarded to TechnipFMC, with the main installation works planned for 2019. This includes the laying of a 10” pipe-in-pipe production flowline and electrohydraulic control umbilical back to Britannia.

New loan facility to fund Finlaggan

Zennor also announced the signing of a £170 million ($222.3M) senior secured term loan facility to fund the Finlaggan development into production.

According to the company, the facility was structured, underwritten and syndicated by Societe Generale, London Branch to BNP Paribas, DNB (UK) Limited and Nedbank Limited (together with Societe Generale, the Mandated Lead Arrangers) and Investec Bank plc and Barclays Bank.

Martin Rowe, Zennor’s Managing Director, said: “This year has been transformational for Zennor. We recently announced the strategic acquisition of an 8.97% working interest in the Britannia Field, subject to partner and regulatory approval, which has doubled our production to circa 5,000boepd.

“Today, we are fully financed to take Finlaggan through to first production in 2020.”

Scott Robertson, Area Manager, Central North Sea, at the OGA said: “The Oil and Gas Authority is pleased to approve the Finlaggan field development. The gas field, which was discovered 13 years ago, will tie-back to the Britannia facilities, utilizing existing infrastructure, maximizing economic recovery from the region.”