WINTERSHALL WILL UP

Germany-based Wintershall revealed a plan Wednesday to significantly ramp up its presence and production in the North Sea.

In addition to an extensive drilling campaign in the Netherlands, the UK and Denmark, the company said it will speed up how quickly it brings natural gas and crude oil discoveries into the production.

"We believe in the ongoing potential of the southern North Sea and are hereby making our contribution to securing Europe's energy supply by efficiently developing the assets we have close to home," managing firector of Wintershall Noordzee Robert Frimpong said.

The company expects its offshore Netherlands F71a oil discovery, now known as Rembrandt, to play a key role in its North Sea ramp up.

Wintershall said it has submitted a production license application for the discovery and is "paving the way" for Rembrandt's development.

The Rembrandt discovery, operated by Wintershall with a 30 percent share, has estimated reserves of 30 million barrels of oil equivalent making it one of the largest oil discoveries in the southern part of the North Sea.

The company said it is also "making great progress" with developing its Ravn oil field in the Danish North Sea.

Wintershall operates the Ravn field with a 63.6 percent stake.

The field's development and operating plan has won approval from the Danish Energy Agency, Winterhshall said.

The plan calls for an unmanned production platform and a subsea pipeline that would transport crude to the A6-A platform 11 miles away in the German North Sea where it will then be fed into the existing transport system.

"Ravn represents a milestone for our company. It is the first field for us in Denmark that we are progressing into the production phase as the operator," Frimpong said.

Frimpong said that while companies will be watching their spend levels as long as oil prices stay low Wintershall "firmly believes" the southern North Sea will continue to attract investment from intentional energy firms.

Wintershall currently operates 24 offshore platforms in Dutch, German and UK waters of the North Sea.

petroglobalnews.com