UK: GDF Suez to Develop Cygnus & Juliet Fields

French major GDF Suez has said that it will develop two massive UK offshore gas fields, the Cygnus and the Juliet fields.

The company, which holds a 38.75 per cent stake in Cygnus and a 51.56 per cent stake in Juliet, also said today that it and its partners in the Cygnus field were planning an investment of €1.7 billion into the Cygnus field. This investment will be used for the development of the field, it says, creating 4,000 direct and indirect jobs.

GDF Suez will develop the field, which has estimated 2P reserves of 18 billion cubic metres -- making it the sixth largest gas field in the UK at present -- with partners Centrica Energy and Bayerngas, which hold a 48.75 per cent and 12.5 per cent stake respectively.

The development of the shallow-water gas field will be buoyed by a recent financial boost from the UK government, which decreed last month that fields of its kind qualified for tax exemptions up to £500 million. GDF Suez today says that this announcement directly influenced the plans for the field, giving the company the "confidence and certainty" to proceed with the planning and preparing of the field.

Currently, the company has planned two drilling centres, four platforms and an initial ten development well with first gas expected for late 2015.

Separately, the company will also seek to develop the Juliet gas field, which has estimated 2P reserves of 2 billion cubic metres, together with partners First Oil Expro (29.44 per cent) and Hansa Hydrocarbons (19 per cent). GDF Suez says that this development will see the use of two horizontal subsea wells tied back to the Pickerill A platform operated by Perenco UK with the gas transported o the Theddlethorpe terminal on the Lincolnshire coast.

First gas from the Juliet field is expected in late 2013.