South Korean-owned operator Dana Petroleum has hit plateau production of about 44,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day from its flagship Western Isles development in the UK northern North Sea, writes Rob Watts.

The Aberdeen-based company, a subsidiary of Korea National Oil Corporation (KNOC), confirmed the milestone this week, four months after production started in mid-November.

A Dana spokesman said: “We can confirm the Western Isles FPSO is producing at 44,000 boepd. This marks plateau production and is in line with our expectations.”

Western Isles is adding about 30,000 barrels net to daily production at Dana, which is understood to be targeting total group production of about 70,000 boepd in 2018.

Output from Western Isles, developed using a cylindrical Sevan Marine-design floating production, storage and offloading unit, began on 15 November.

The development contains production and water injections wells tied back to the FPSO, which has 400,000 barrels of oil storage capacity.

It involves the development of two oilfields — Harris and Barra, located 160 kilometres east of the Shetland Islands — that contain an estimated 45 million barrels of oil equivalent of recoverable hydrocarbons.

The Western Isles FPSO was built at Cosco’s Qidong facility in China.

Dana is operator on 77% with partner Cieco E&P UK, a subsidiary of Japan’s Itochu, on 23%.

Dana chief executive Roy Elliot said last year: "The safe start-up of Western Isles is a proud moment and a great achievement for Dana and our owner the Korea National Oil Corporation — and it demonstrates our ongoing commitment to the North Sea."

The development was approved by the UK authorities in 2012 with first oil then planned for 2015.

However, in 2015 it was revealed that construction of the FPSO was about two years late while the total cost had increased by about $400 million to $2 billion.

Weekly

Dana on top at its flagship Western Isles development