Kraken North

Location and Geology

• The Kraken field is located in the East Shetland basin, west of the North Viking Graben, approximately 125 km east of the Shetland Islands.
• The field is situated in blocks 9/2b and 9/2c within the P1575 licence.
• The reservoir comprises the Heimdal formation at a depth of about 3850 feet TVDSS, with the main producing interval being the Heimdal unit III, containing heavy oil with an API gravity of around 13.7° to 14°.

Discovery and Development

• The Kraken Oil Field was discovered in 1985 by Nautical Petroleum.
• EnQuest acquired a significant stake in the field in 2012 and became the operator after acquiring shares from Nautical Petroleum and First Oil.
• The UK government approved the project in November 2013, with a £4 billion investment.

Production and Reserves

• The field is estimated to hold reserves of approximately 137 million barrels of heavy oil.
• Peak production is expected to be over 50,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd).
• The field has a projected life of about 25 years.

Infrastructure and Operations

• The development utilizes the Armada Kraken Floating Production, Storage, and Offloading (FPSO) vessel, which has a storage capacity of 600,000 barrels. The FPSO was converted from a Suezmax ice-class tanker and moored using a buoy-turret mooring system.
• The FPSO is designed to handle flow rates of up to 460,000 bpd, accommodating up to 80,000 bpd of oil and 20 million standard cubic feet of gas per day, along with 275,000 bpd of water for injection.
• The field is developed via three drill center manifolds targeting the northern, central, and southern sections of the reservoirs. As of 2019, drilling across Kraken and Kraken North was completed, with 14 producers and 13 injectors.

Contractors and Partners

• Key contractors include:
  • Bumi Armada for the FPSO deployment, operation, and maintenance.
  • Technip for engineering, procurement, installation, and construction (EPCI) of subsea infrastructure.
  • SPX Corporation for the supply of hydraulic subsea pumps (HSPs).
  • Wärtsilä for the topside power module solution.
  • Deltamarin for the basic design of the FPSO vessel.
• The project is operated by EnQuest, which holds a 70.5% stake. Cairn Energy holds the remaining balance, although some sources indicate a slight variation in ownership percentages, such as EnQuest having a 60% interest with Cairn Energy and First Oil holding the rest.

Financial and Operational Highlights

• The project was completed $1 billion under the initial budget of $3.2 billion, with a final capital cost of $2.5 billion.
• EnQuest has reduced operating costs significantly, targeting $12 per barrel in the future.
• Despite some initial glitches, the field has been producing successfully since its start-up in June 2017.

Environmental and Future Plans

• The crude from Kraken has low sulfur levels, making it suitable for producing bunker fuel with a lower carbon footprint, compliant with the International Maritime Organization's 2020 sulfur regulations.
• EnQuest is planning to reduce the CO2 footprint of the North Sea facilities, including potential electrification of offshore operations and using gas from nearby fields like Bressay to power the combined facilities.
• EnQuest is also considering developing the nearby Bressay field, which could be tied back to the Kraken facilities, leveraging synergies and reducing costs.