Field Summary
The Athena field is situated in block 14/18b in the Outer Moray Firth area of the UKCS, lying approximately 18 kilometres west of the Claymore and Scapa fields and the associated production facilities. Ithaca currently holds a 22.5% interest in the Athena Field. The reservoir has been evaluated by Sproule Associates to contain 2P reserves (gross) of 26.1 million barrels of oil. The initial rate from the field is anticipated to be approximately 22,000 barrels of oil per day gross (4,950 net to Ithaca) with first production in Q2 2012. Hydrocarbons produced at Athena will be transported from the BW Athena FPSO by shuttle tankers to the onshore Nigg storage facility, operated by Ithaca Energy. The crude is sold to the market from Nigg.
Development
The BW Athena FPSO vessel which is now located at the Athena field in the North Sea and undergoing a final commissioning phase prior to first production. The FPSO has been extensively modified and recertified in Dubai by the vessel owners, BW Offshore. The vessel has been ‘hooked up’ to a fixed APL STP mooring system which connects it to a subsea manifold, production wells and control systems. Offloading of the stabilised produced crude will be undertaken by tandem moored shuttle tankers.
Offshore Installation Works
All major subsea elements have been completed prior to the arrival of the BW Athena FPSO. Hook up and commissioning of systems is ongoing.
Rig Activities
All rig based activities were completed in November 2011 and all 4 wells have been configured for production.
Subsea Engineering
Installation activities are being undertaken by Bibby Offshore.
The following subsea vendors have contributed to the project.
- Subsea engineering and project management by Petrex Ltd in Aberdeen (UK)
- Electrical Submersible Pumps by Baker Hughes Centrilift (UK)
- Subsea detailed design has been undertaken by Xodus Group in Aberdeen (UK)
- Umbilicals, powercables and risers were provided by Duco in Newcastle (UK)
- Subsea valves were manufactured by BEL Valves in Newcastle (UK)
- Manifold and riser base fabrication by JPR Fabrication Ltd in Invergordon (UK)
- Flexible flowlines and risers were manufactured by Wellstream in Newcastle (UK)
- Multiphase Flow Meter - Framo in Bergen (Norway)
- Subsea Control System is supplied by Weatherford Production Optimisation (UK) Ltd in Great Yarmouth (UK)
- Xmas Trees were designed and supplied by GE Vetco in Aberdeen (UK)
- Pipe, Flanges and Fittings – Specialist Piping Materials (Scotland) Ltd
- IT based control, data gathering and communications services - Digital Applications International Ltd