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Mobil Announces First Oil from the Buckland Field in the Northern North Sea

23 August 1999

Mobil Announces First Oil from the Buckland Field in the Northern North Sea

    ABERDEEN--Aug. 23, 1999--Mobil North Sea Limited announced today first oil production from the Buckland field in the Northern North Sea. Initial production flowed on 19 August at 16,000 barrels/day and is expected to increase to 30,000 barrels/day within the next few weeks.
    Mobil is the operator with a 35 percent share in the field. Partners are Repsol (33.3 percent), Enterprise Oil (14.4 percent), Amerada Hess (14.1 percent) and OMV (3.2 percent).
    The field, in Block 9/18, has been developed as a subsea satellite tied back to the existing Beryl Alpha production platform, 10.5 kilometers away in Block 9/13. Associated gas of 40 million standard cubic feet per day will be co-mingled with Beryl gas and exported via the Mobil-operated SAGE pipeline to St. Fergus.
    Mobil entered the Buckland licence through an asset swap with BP in 1991 and became operator when the Beryl partners purchased Conoco's interest in 1997. Project sanction was granted by the DTI in April 1998 and development drilling started on 1st October 1998.
    John Cousins, President of Mobil North Sea Limited said "Excellent teamwork between the Buckland and Beryl partners along with our contractors has enabled this highly successful project to achieve first oil several weeks ahead of schedule. Our decision to tie Buckland into the Beryl infrastructure has once again enabled the stakeholders to boost North Sea production through optimum use of existing assets."