(Courtesy Oil and Gas Authority)

Offshore staff

LONDON Britains Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) reveals strong production performance in fields across the UK continental shelf (UKCS).

Its 2019 Production Efficiency reportshows a 5% improvement on 2018 with each sector reporting a rise, apart from west of Shetland where there was no change.

The main factors were a 25% reduction in production losses: this represented a 50-MMboe saving compared with 2018.

Other achievements include a 29% lowering of plant losses; planned shutdowns mostly running to schedule with a 1% overrun on planned time, against 15% in 2018; and an increase in actual wellhead production in the much of the North Sea, apart from the southern gas basin.

According to the OGA, increased production efficiency often corresponds to lower emissions intensity on production facilities. The 23% improvement since 2014 has contributed to reduction of around 10% in carbon emissions per barrel of oil produced over the same period, the authority added.

Another highlight of 2019 was a 40% fall in losses from unplanned shutdowns.

Hedvig Ljungerud, OGA director of Strategy, said: The sustained rise in production efficiency represents a significant achievement by the industry, which plays an important part in both maximising economic recovery from the UKCS and helping in the drive towards lower emissions intensity.

The twin challenges of COVID-19 and the fall in commodity price have placed the industry under pressure, but operators long-term improvement in production efficiency leaves them in a better position.

07/31/2020

See original here:

UK operators getting a grip on offshore production losses - Offshore Oil and Gas Magazine