Amerada Hess AS has reported encouraging test results from a second appraisal well in its South Arne discovery in 61 m of water on Danish North Sea Block 5604/29.
The second South Arne well flowed at an operationally constrained rate of 5,263 b/d of 35° gravity oil on a 52/64 in. choke.
An appraisal of the discovery well flowed 2,500 b/d of oil on test in February 1995. Amerada declared South Arne commercial last April and hopes to bring the field into production in late 1998.
David Murison, general manager of Amerada Hess AS, said a figure for estimated reserves in South Arne is not available.
He said the company is studying development options and is likely to choose between a fixed platform with oil storage and tanker loading or a fixed platform tied back to existing infrastructure.
Earlier Amerada listed a floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) vessel among development options, but this has since been ruled out on economic grounds.
Because this is a chalk reservoir, said Murison, production is expected to be slower and field life longer than for a comparable sandstone reservoir. This makes a fixed platform more attractive than an FPSO.
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