Wintershall Bets on Technology to Expand Production in Netherlands

BASF-subsidiary Wintershall reported it is expanding its natural gas production in the Netherlands through an unmanned ‘mini-platform’.

‘The advantage of this new generation of platforms is that they can be deployed in particularly shallow waters and can economically produce even from very small natural gas fields’ the German company wrote on Tuesday.

According to the company, the costs for the platform located in field L6-B are less than half of a conventional satellite platform. Wintershall hopes to increase its clout in the Dutch North Sea, through this kind of technical adjustments. 

‘The North Sea is a core region for Germany’s largest, internationally active crude oil and natural gas producer. The BASF subsidiary has been active in the region since 1965 and in the last five years it has been awarded exploration and production rights in around 120 licenses in the North Sea. At the same time, the company has firmly established itself as an operator of producing fields in Norway and the southern North Sea’ the company commented.  

Meanwhile, Sweden’s Lundin Petroleum started drilling a second appraisal at its Alta discovery in Norway’s Barents Sea. Lundin operates the licence (40% stake). Dea and Idemitsu Petroleum are the partners with a 30% stake each.