COPENHEGEN: Approval of the $3.33bn redevelopment of the ageing Tyra field, operated by Maersk Oil offshore Denmark, is one more indication that the countries bordering the North Sea aren’t going to give up on flagship assets that have served them well in the past without a fight, and a belief that European gas demand will support them over the coming decades. Tyra provides around 90% of Denmark’s domestic gas supply so the extensive redevelopment required to keep it in working order is deemed worth the effort to ensure Denmark’s energy security at a time when European gas demand is starting to pick up. The redevelopment has attracted a raft of financial incentives, recently approved by the Danish parliament, to get the project over the line.
Maersk Oil, which is in the process of being taken over by France’s Total, operates the field on behalf of the Danish Underground Consortium, a partnership between AP Moller Maersk (31.2%), shell (36.8%), Nordsøfonden (20%) and Chevron (12%). Lying some 225km west of Esbjerg, the redeveloped field is expected to produce around 60,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day at its peak. Roughly two thirds will be gas, the remainder oil. Tyra is estimated to still hold more than 200m boe of recoverable oil and gas.The field was discovered as far back as 1968 with production starting in 1984. Since then the chalk reservoir has subsided, causing the platforms to sink by 5 metres over three decades, bringing them closer to the sea.
Under the redevelopment, the two existing gas processing and accommodation platforms on Tyra East and Tyra West will be replaced by a single new processing platform and a single new accommodation platform. The four wellhead platforms and two riser platforms will have their jackets extended by 10 metres and the current topsides will be replaced by new ones. This will require the field to be shut in from November 2019, with production expected to restart in July 2022. The redeveloped Tyra is then expected to have a 25-year lifespan.
Some $2.7bn of the total cost will finance the new infrastructure, with the remaining $0.63m going towards decommissioning the infrastructure that is being removed.
