Shell signs over decom management role at North Sea fields to EnQuest

London Stock Exchange-listed energy player EnQuest has widened its decommissioning operator role at offshore fields in the UK sector of the North Sea after Britain’s energy giant Shell decided to pass on its decommissioning management role to EnQuest.

EnQuest as the owner and operator of the Greater Kittiwake Area (GKA) fields, along with Shell and Dana Petroleum, is in charge of the decommissioning activities at these assets. Comprising five offshore oil fields – Kittiwake, Mallard, Gadwall, Goosander, and Grouse – the Greater Kittiwake Area was developed with a fixed steel jack platform while EnQuest’s Scolty/Crathes fields were tied back to the Kittiwake platform to extend the life of this production hub.

The joint venture has appointed EnQuest to remain as GKA operator for the full decommissioning scope, with Shell transferring its decommissioning management role to the firm, even though it previously retained operator responsibility for decommissioning the Kittiwake platform and the Mallard field, a subsea tie-back to the platform when it divested the GKA fields.

John Allan, EnQuests’s Decommissioning Director, commented: “This is a great vote of confidence in EnQuest by our GKA partners Shell and Dana. It reflects our strong track record of safe, efficient and successful execution of complex decommissioning scopes which is an important part of our company growth strategy. “

EnQuest handed over a three-year extension to Petrofac in July 2022, enabling it to continue in its capacity as duty holder of the Kittiwake platform in the Central North Sea – a role it has held with the company since 2014, and the asset’s previous owners since 2003. According to the North Sea operator, the GKA infrastructure is anticipated to continue production into the late 2020s with proactive planning for a managed decommissioning program post-cessation of production.

The GKA fields are seen as very mature assets approaching the end of their service life with cessation of production (CoP) expected in 2025. The first developed field, Kittiwake, started production in 1990 after being developed with a single slimline fixed steel platform. Afterward, Mallard and Gadwall followed suit as subsea tie-backs to the Kittiwake platform, located 15 and 12 kilometers to the southeast.

While claiming to be “delivering on its strategic objective to be the preferred decommissioning operator in the North Sea,” EnQuest listed several decommissioning projects, including the removal of the EnQuest Producer and Northern Producer facilities and the ongoing and extensive well plug and abandonment (P&A) scopes at the Thistle and Heather fields at 40% below benchmark costs.

The company underlines that it is on track to complete the P&A of 77 wells, which represents 60% of its operated suspended and shut-in wells, within five years of cessation of production. EnQuest hit a milestone of 70 million barrels of oil produced during May 2024 from its field in the Northern North Sea which has been online since 2017.

One of Dolphin Drilling’s semi-submersible rigs will embark on a journey to the UK in the first quarter of 2025 to start its 137-day drilling contract with EnQuest.