Engie Starts up Cygnus Bravo

Engie E&P said August 8 it exported first gas a week earlier on August 1 from its unmanned Cygnus Bravo platform in the UK southern North Sea.

The field’s first platform, Cygnus Alpha, has been producing at a plateau of 250mn ft³/d since December 13 2016 – although that started up a year behind its target schedule of late 2015.

Combined output flows from the Alpha processing unit, 150km offshore Lincolnshire, via a 55km link to the Esmond Transmission System – which ultimately lands at the Bacton gas terminal in eastern England. It contributes 5% of UK gas production, enough to heat 1.5mn UK homes.

Engie E&P CEO Maria Moraeus Hanssen said of the second platform start-up: "This is a major milestone for the Cygnus development.” She added that over 80% of contract work during Cygnus construction was secured by UK businesses.

Cygnus holds estimated 2P (proved and probable) reserves of 110mn barrels oil equivalent. Licensees are operator Engie E&P 38.75%, plus Centrica 48.75% and Bayerngas Norge 12.5%. The latter two announced mid-July plans to merge their entire upstream businesses.

Engie in May said it will sell its 70% stake in Engie E&P for $3.9bn to Neptune Energy, a new upstream independent backed by US and UK private equity funds Carlyle and CVC Partners; completion is due early 1Q18. The other 30% will be retained by Chinese sovereign wealth fund CIC.

Mark Smedley

Cygnus Bravo platform (Photo credit: Engie E&P)

Mark Smedley