Clipper South
Clipper South Field and Block 48/20b
Fairfield equity = 25% (P465, P008, P1909)
RWE equity = 50%
Bayerngas equity = 25%
Asset Overview
The Clipper South Field is located off the east coast of England, 100km from the Theddlethorpe Gas Terminal. Water depth is 80 ft.
Clipper South is a substantial gas field with a wellhead platform tied by 12" pipeline to Conoco/BP’s LOGGS Platform (15 km) from where gas is exported onshore to Theddlethorpe gas terminal.
Background & Exploration History
Clipper South lies within the prolific Southern North Sea gas province, south of the Clipper-Barque cluster, west of the Viking Complex and northeast of Anglia. The field is reservoired in Lower Permian wind-blown sandstones belonging to the Rotliegendes Group. The underlying Carboniferous Coal Measures are the source of the dry gas.
Prior to its development two wells were drilled on Clipper South. The discovery well 48/19a-3 was drilled in 1982 and was subsequently appraised in 1992 by well 48/19c-13 and its sidetrack 48/19c-13z. Both wells were tested and flowed gas to surface.
The net to gross within the Rotliegendes section is high, exceeding 80 per cent. in the gas leg. Reservoir properties vary between facies, although typically the aeolian sandstones have 10–12 per cent. porosity and permeability which can vary from <0.1mD to 100mD.
Clipper South is imaged by several 3D seismic surveys which were merged and reprocessed via PSDM in 2010. The data clearly defines the Clipper South trap as a south to south-westerly dipping fault block, bounded by a fault on its northern flank and dip closed to the east, south and west.
The two initial wells in Clipper South, together with data from adjacent fields confirm a Rotliegendes dry gas field, in which production can be enhanced through stimulation via hydraulic fracturing of the reservoir. The operator, RWE, estimates P50 GIIP at 512 Bcf.
The Clipper South Field lies in three part blocks. Part Blocks 48/19a and 48/20a were originally awarded to Shell UK (operator, 50 per cent.) and Esso (50 per cent.) in the 1st Licensing Round in 1964. Part Block 48/19c was awarded to the same partnership in the 8th License Round in 1983. Fairfield acquired a 100 per cent. interest and operatorship in Clipper South from subsidiaries of Shell and ExxonMobil in March 2008.
In July 2009, Fairfield farmed down 50 per cent. of its interest and transferred operatorship to RWE in return for RWE carrying £20million of development costs and contributing to past costs. Fairfield was then able to benefit from RWE’s experience and technical expertise. In September 2010 Fairfield completed a farm-in agreement with Bayern Gas. Under the terms of this agreement Bayern Gas acquired a 25% interest from Fairfield in return for carrying £10million of Fairfield’s development costs and contributing to past costs.
Technical work during 2009 and early 2010 confirmed the ideal development concept to be five horizontal “multifrac” wells tied back to infrastructure at LOGGS via a wellhead platform and a 12” pipeline. Platform construction began in late 2010. The Clipper South Field development programme was approved by the Secretary of State on 24th February 2011 and installation of the wellhead platform was completed on 27th August 2011. Development drilling commenced in January 2012 with first gas expected in late Jully 2012 from well C1, the first horizontal multifrac well on the field. Base Case Field Development plan reserves are 181bcf gross. Following the completion and productionstart-up of well C1 the Clipper South programme foresees the batch drilling of three further development wells and their subsequent batch fraccing and clean-up in early 2013. It is currently expected that the 5th production well will be drilled in 2014. Peak field rates in excess of 80mmscf are expected from Clipper South.
In the 26th Licensing Round Fairfield and RWE were awarded Block 48/20b, Licence P1909, immediately to the south east of the Clipper South field and work is ongoing to assess whether tight gas opportunities exist in this block which could be developed via Clipper South. Bayerngas have acquired a 25% interest in this block from Fairfield thus normalising interests with Clipper South.
Image Map
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Operations
Fairfield has full or partial ownership of six assets within the North Sea, transforming discoveries into productive capacity.
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Dunlin
Fairfield acquired 70% of Dunlin in 2008 and it is now operated in conjunction with duty holder Amec.
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Clipper South
Fairfield holds a 25% interest in the Clipper South Discovery Area with partners RWE DEA UK SNS Ltd as Operator and Bayerngas North Sea Ltd’
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Crawford
Fairfield holds 25% interest in the Crawford Oilfield, located in the Central North Sea. It holds almost 200 million barrels of Oil in Place.
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