Maersk Oil’s Gryphon Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel will soon be docked in Rotterdam for repairs after suffering damage during a storm in the UK North Sea in February.
The FPSO had been producing from the Gryphon, Maclure and Tullich fields. Storm weather caused some of its anchors to snap, allowing it to move off station before the vessel was secured again.
Pre-engineering work for the Gryphon FPSO is being carried out by the Damen shipyard in Rotterdam, and it is expected the FPSO will be ready to leave station and sail away by the end of May. Gryphon is likely to return to the field in Spring 2012. While Gryphon is away, repair work will be done to subsurface infrastructure. Subsurface wells and manifolds were not damaged.
“This has been a busy period for Maersk Oil in the UK; our staff and contractors have been working very hard to deal with the fallout of the damage to Gryphon and ensure that the safety of people and our assets has been safeguarded,” said Martin Pedersen, Managing Director of Maersk Oil in the UK.
“Maersk Oil has been fully engaged with the Health and Safety Executive throughout the damage assessment and investigation process, and whilst Gryphon is undergoing repairs there will be a key focus on the mooring systems and heading controls."
Oil production from Gryphon normally contributes about a third of total Maersk Oil oil production in the UK. Maersk Oil is now reviewing options for further development of the field to maximise future oil and gas recovery.
In the meantime, Maersk Oil has been busy with a number of other exploration and development activities in the UK, including the Culzean gas discovery, the Golden Eagle oil field development and plans to develop Flyndre.
For further information, call Sabina Zawadzki +45 3363 8267
About Maersk Oil UK
Maersk Oil has built its business in the UK around the acquisition of Kerr McGee’s assets in 2005 in the UK North Sea and North Atlantic. Since then Maersk Oil has expanded and has an interest in 14 producing fields, operating seven of those. Maersk Oil’s current share of production is about 40,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day. Maersk Oil holds varying interests in over 50 exploration licences, about half of which it operates. Development plans are expected in 2011 for the Golden Eagle Area, as well as for the Flyndre area. Further appraisal drilling is ongoing at the Culzean gas discovery to determine potential development options.
About Maersk Oil
Maersk Oil is an international oil and gas company with operated production of about 700,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day from fields in the Danish and UK North Sea, offshore Qatar and in Kazakhstan. Maersk Oil exploration activities are ongoing offshore UK, Denmark Norway, Angola, Brazil, the US Gulf of Mexico, Greenland and onshore Oman. Maersk Oil and its subsidiary companies are part of the Danish A.P. Moller – Maersk Group. Maersk Oil was established in 1962, when it was awarded a concession for oil and gas exploration and production in Denmark. For more information, visit our website at www.maerskoil.com.