A major milestone has been reached in the development of Hurricane Energy’s Lancaster field.
The firm announced well completion work has begun on its early production system (EPS).
The development, which is west of Shetland, is thought to have contingent resources of more than 500 million barrels of oil.
Well operator Petrofac has started re-entry and completions operations using Transocean’s Paul B. Loyd Jr harsh environment semisubmersible rig.
Hurricane said the rig underwent maintenance following a previous assignment to Lancaster.
The early production system is intended to give Hurricane insight into the reservoir characteristics, helping it make an informed decision on a full field development.
The EPS will use two currently suspended horizontal wells drilled and tested in 2014 and 2016.
Chief executive Robert Trice said: “It’s pleasing to see further progress being made on another element of the Lancaster EPS.
“We look forward to continuing to build on our strong relationship with Petrofac and Transocean, with whom we completed our highly successful 2016-2017 drilling campaign.”
The Aoka Mizu floating production, storage and offloading vessel (FPSO) is expected to be installed at the field in the third quarter of this year.
Production is to begin in the first half of 2019.