The UK government’s Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has announced their approval of the field development plan put forward by Statoil and its co-venturers for the Mariner heavy oil field.
The project entails investments of more than USD 7 billion and is the largest new offshore development in the UK in more than a decade. Statoil expects to start production from Mariner in 2017, and the field is expected to produce for 30 years. The average production is estimated at around 55,000 barrels of oil per day over the plateau period from 2017 to 2020.
The Mariner project was positively impacted by the UK government’s expansion of the Ring Fence Expenditure Supplement and will provide significant tax income for the UK. Statoil will establish an operations center for Mariner in Aberdeen, and the project will lead to substantial job creation in the region with more than 700 long-term, full-time positions. Statoil have a sales office for crude oil in London, and are a substantial supplier of gas to the British market.
In addition to being operator for the Mariner and Bressay fields, Statoil is partners in the producing fields Schiehallion, Jupiter and Alba as well as in several exploration licences offshore UK, including the oil and gas discovery Rosebank. The Mariner Field is located on the East Shetland Platform of the UK North Sea approximately 150 km east of the Shetland Isles. Statoil acquired 44.44% and operatorship for Mariner from Chevron in 2007.