Zennor Delays Key North Sea Project

Private equity-backed Zennor Petroleum expects a "significant" delay at its flagship Finlaggan gas and condensate development in the central UK North Sea because of earlier Covid-19 disruptions, according to its 2019 financial report published by Companies House on September 17. The field passed its flow-rate test in May 2019.

Finlaggan is Zennor's 100%-owned flagship asset. The company plans to recover 27mn barrels of oil equivalent from the field with two subsea production wells tied back to the Britannia platform 20 km away. Work on the project was 80% complete at the end of 2019 and production was on track to start in the fourth quarter of 2020, Zennor said. 

"However, as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, the production start date is now expected to be delayed until Q4 2021," Zennor said. "The delay was necessitated by the deferral of the planned Britannia platform maintenance shutdown, during which the tie-in of the Finlaggan production wells is scheduled to occur."

Maintenance at Britannia and the connecting Forties Pipeline System (FPS) had been due to take place in June but has been rescheduled to May 2021. During the second half of 2020, Zennor plans to complete most of the remaining subsea facilities, installing Finlaggan's manifold structure on the seabed and connecting it with the pipeline and umbilical.

Zennor produced 2,370 boe/day net at the Mungo, Monan, Bacchus and Cormorant East fields last year, up from 1,680 boe/d in 2018. This bump in output led to an increase in revenues to $60.8mn from $44.6mn. It booked a pre-tax profit of $12.7mn, marking a reversal from a $5.4mn loss in the year before.