United Kingdom Oil and Gas Fields: 50th Anniversary Commemorative Volume
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Geological Society Memoir 52 records the extraordinary journey of more than 50 years that has led to the development of some 458 oil and gas fields on the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS). It contains papers on almost 150 onshore and offshore fields in all of the UK's main petroliferous basins. These papers range from look-backs on some of the first-developed gas fields in the Southern North Sea, to papers on fields that have only just been brought into production or may still remain undeveloped, and includes two candidate CO2 sequestration projects.
These papers are intended to provide a consistent summary of the exploration, appraisal, development and production history of each field, leading to the current subsurface understanding which is described in greater detail. As such, the Memoir will be an enduring reference source for those exploring for, developing, producing hydrocarbons and sequestering CO2 on the UKCS in the coming decades. It encapsulates the petroleum industry's deep subsurface knowledge accrued over more than 50 years of exploration and production.
The Carrack Field, Blocks 49/14b, 49/15a and 49/15b, UK North Sea
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Published:October 30, 2020
Abstract
The Carrack Field, located in the Southern North Sea Blocks 49/14b and 49/15a, has of the order or 15 bcm (530 bcf) gas initially in place and is operated by Shell UK Ltd. The field consists of a pop-up structure in the south of the field and extends to the north with a gently-dipping monoclinal structure. The reservoir comprises sandstones of the Permian Silverpit and Leman Sandstone formations, which contain c. 85% of the in-place resources. The quality of the reservoir decreases rapidly to the north. Gas is also produced from Carboniferous sandstones of late Duckmantian (Westphalian B)–Bolsovian (Westphalian C) age.
Initially, the field was in pressure communication both laterally and vertically with a single gas–water contact. During production time, however, the three main fault blocks behaved independently, and decimetre-thick shale intervals acted as vertical baffles between the sandstone units.
The Carrack Field has been in production since 2003 and is developed by a single platform with seven mainly deviated wells. The current production rate is c. 0.7 MMm3/day (25 MMscfgd). Until the end of field life in the 2030s, the field is expected to produce gas of the order of a few bcm. The main remaining opportunity is the undeveloped Carrack West compartment.
- Atlantic Ocean
- clastic rocks
- data integration
- East Anglia
- England
- Europe
- faults
- folds
- Great Britain
- history
- monoclines
- natural gas
- Norfolk England
- North Atlantic
- North Sea
- offshore
- oil and gas fields
- Paleozoic
- Permian
- petroleum
- petroleum exploration
- production
- reserves
- reservoir rocks
- sandstone
- sedimentary rocks
- shale
- stratigraphic traps
- structural controls
- traps
- United Kingdom
- well logs
- Western Europe
- Rotliegend Group
- Silverpit Formation
- Conybeare Group
- Carrack Field