United Kingdom Oil and Gas Fields: 50th Anniversary Commemorative Volume
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 Captain Field, Block 13/22a, UK North Sea
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Published:October 30, 2020
Abstract
The Captain Field in Block 13/22a is in the Moray Firth region of the UK North Sea. The primary reservoirs are Lower Cretaceous turbidite sandstones of the Captain Sandstone Member. Upper Jurassic shallower-marine Heather Formation sandstones of Oxfordian age provide a secondary reservoir. Total oil in place exceeds 1 Bbbl; however, the oil is heavy and viscous, requiring the continuous application of innovative technologies to maximize economic recovery from the field. Captain has been producing since 1997, with reservoir waterflood planned from the outset. Captain has been developed using long horizontal producers to maximize reservoir contact. Water injectors provide pressure support, with the aim of full voidage replacement. The Captain development has been phased with facilities consisting of two bridge-linked platforms, a floating production, storage and offloading vessel, and two subsea manifolds. Peak oil rate (100 000 boepd) was achieved in 2002. Average production in 2019 was 28 000 boepd. Captain is executing a chemical enhanced oil recovery (EOR) project, a first for the UK North Sea. Conventional waterflood yields an estimated ultimate recovery of 30–40%. Chemical EOR is expected to improve this by 5–20% in areas of the reservoir under polymer flood.
- Atlantic Ocean
- clastic rocks
- Cretaceous
- development
- enhanced recovery
- Europe
- geophysical profiles
- geophysical surveys
- Great Britain
- Heather Formation
- history
- Jurassic
- Lower Cretaceous
- Mesozoic
- Moray Firth
- North Atlantic
- North Sea
- oil and gas fields
- Oxfordian
- petroleum
- petroleum exploration
- production
- reservoir properties
- reservoir rocks
- sandstone
- Scotland
- sedimentary rocks
- seismic profiles
- surveys
- traps
- turbidite
- United Kingdom
- Upper Jurassic
- Western Europe
- Captain Field
- Captain Sandstone Member
- Captain Ridge