Serica restores gas flow at North Sea Rhum field
UK independent upstream player Serica Energy confirmed on March 17 that its Rhum gas condensate field in the UK North Sea was back online after a machinery fault prompted a mandatory shutdown.
Serica fixed a component in Rhum's subsea control module in "difficult weather conditions", using a diving support vessel. The operation reached water depths of over 100 m and took place "without incident."
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The repair work saw Serica's production fall to around 15,000 boe/d, compared to 18,900 boe/d in January to June last year. That, in turn, was down from 21,600 boe/d in the corresponding period of 2020, with the decline attributed to maintenance work at the Forties pipeline system.
Situated in the north North Sea, Rhum is tied into Serica's late-life Bruce gas installation further south, which in turn connects to the UK's Frigg gas transit system. A third production well at Rhum started production last August, bringing the field's gross flow rate to 34,000 barrels of oil equivalent/day from 26,000 boe/d previously.
In the first half of 2021, Rhum produced 10,400 boe/day net to Serica from its initial two wells, up from 9,900 boe/d yr/yr. The third well was actually drilled by Rhum's former operator BP in 2005, but the UK major never put it into production.
Besides Rhum, Serica draws net gas of around 9,600 boe/d from Bruce's 21 production wells and has extended the field's operating life to 2030 from 2026 previously. Bruce's platform also acts as the conduit for Serica's wholly-operated Keith oilfield. A recent competent person's report concluded Bruce held 22.2mn boe of remaining reserves in January 2020, while Rhum contained around 28.8mn boe and Keith 0.4mn boe.