Survey for Southern North Sea gas project set for April

Belgium-based geo-data specialist GEOxyz has secured a contract with the oil and gas services provider Hartshead Resources for a geophysical survey across the Anning and Somerville fields and inter-field pipeline locations in the Southern North Sea.

According to Hartshead Resources, the main objective of the geophysical survey is to provide the company with an interpretation of the seabed geomechanical and engineering conditions at the Anning and Somerville field locations as well as an environmental baseline survey and habitat assessment.

The 77-meter DP2 multi-disciplined offshore survey vessel Geo Ocean III will carry out the work at Anning and Sommerville field locations from April. The vessel features deep-push cone penetration testing (CPT) and vibrocoring capability.

GEOxyz is expected to conduct a 2D high-resolution survey covering a 1,000 x 1,000 meters square box as well as a more detailed 400 x 400 meters analog survey in order to inform the exact emplacement of the Anning and Somerville jackets.

The survey plan also includes in-situ seabed mini-CPT (cone penetration testing) and vibrocorer sampling at 1,000-meter intervals of the inter-field pipeline route between the Anning and Somerville jacket locations for the purposes of geo-mechanical and geo-environmental seabed characterization.

Finally, GEOxyz is expected to perform onshore and offshore laboratory testing of seabed samples taken during the sampling operations.

The results of the geophysical survey are planned to be included in the environmental statement which is a key component of the field development plan (FDP) submission and is also required for the platform front-end engineering design (FEED) jacket design verification.

Chris Lewis, CEO at Hartshead Resources, said: “The phase I development is progressing well, with work across platforms, pipelines, wells, and offtake moving forward. The survey at the platform locations will confirm seabed conditions for the platform jacket design and provide data for the environmental statement to be submitted in 2023. These are all positive steps along the road to first gas.”

From most recent company-related news it is worth noting that Hartshead Resources awarded a contract to the oilfield services provider Petrofac to conduct an engineering study to define the Phase I offtake route from its Somerville and Anning gas fields in the Southern North Sea in October 2022.