Serica kicks off gas flow at Columbus field
London-listed Serica Energy said on November 25 it had launched gas production at the Columbus field in the central UK North Sea.
Hydrocarbons from the C1z development well began flowing into the Arran subsea system on November 25. Commingled flow from Columbus and Arran is now being exported to the Shell-operated Shearwater platform for processing and onward delivery to gas and liquid sales points.
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Columbus is expected to be producing at its peak rate by early December. The field was expected online sooner, but Serica warned in late October of a "short delay" owing to restricted capacity at the Shearwater platform. Earlier in the year the company had some difficulties in drilling the development well at Columbus, resulting in a cost overrun.
Serica CEO Mitch Flegg welcomed the field's launch in a statement.
"Serica's approach to increasing its production base and providing much needed energy to the UK while seeking lower carbon emission solutions, has been achieved by using shared existing infrastructure to progress the development of Columbus," he said in a stock filing.
Serica also operates the Bruce, Keith and Rhum fields in the UK north North Sea and is a partner at the Erskine field as well. Its production guidance for the year is 23,000 barrels of oil equivalent/day.