Ravn-3

Ravn-3 Oil and Gas Field Profile

Location and Geography

• The Ravn-3 Oil and Gas Field is located in the Danish sector of the North Sea, approximately 245 km from the Danish west coast and 11.3 km northeast of the border between Germany and Denmark.
• The field is situated in block 5504, license 5/06, at a water depth of around 48-50 meters.

Discovery and Development

• The Ravn field was discovered in 1986 through an exploratory well (5504/01-02), followed by the drilling of appraisal wells Ravn-1, Ravn-2, and Ravn-3.
• The Ravn-3 well, drilled in 2009 using the jack-up rig Noble George Sauvageau, confirmed the presence of oil at a depth of approximately 4,200 meters.

Ownership and Operation

• The field is owned by a consortium consisting of Wintershall Noordzee B.V. (63.64%) and Nordsøfonden (36.36%).
• Wintershall Noordzee B.V. is the operator of the field.

Field Development

• The field development plan was approved by the Danish Energy Agency in November 2014, with an estimated total cost of kr1.5bn ($251.9m).
• Production began in April 2017.
• The field is developed using an unmanned platform connected to the German A6-A platform via an 18km-long, 8-inch multiphase production pipeline and a 3-inch gas lift pipeline piggy-backed to the production pipeline.
• The platform is a minimum facility structure supported by a four-legged piloted jacket and includes facilities for electrical and instrumentation, a helideck, and support for up to three oil wells.

Production

• The field produced oil and small amounts of associated gas and water, which were transferred to the A6-A platform for processing and storage.
• Cumulative production figures include:
  • 1.42 million barrels of oil by 2022.
  • 12.66 million cubic meters of gas by 2022.
• Annual production rates were:
  • 0.55 million barrels of oil per year in 2019.
  • 6.33 million cubic meters of gas per year in 2019.
  • Production ceased in 2020 for oil and 2021 for gas.

Wells

• The field has two wells, Ravn A1 and Ravn A2, both of which are no longer in operation. Ravn A1 was suspended in 2020, and Ravn A2 was temporarily plugged and abandoned in 2018.
• A plug and abandonment (P&A) program for these wells is planned before the decommissioning of the platform, subject to independent approval.

Decommissioning

• The Danish Energy Agency (DEA) has approved the decommissioning of the Ravn Field platform, marking the first full-scale decommissioning of an oil and gas field in the Danish sector of the North Sea.
• Decommissioning activities, including the disconnection of pipelines, removal of the platform's topside and jacket, and decommissioning of pipelines, are scheduled to start in June 2024 and complete by the end of September 2024.

Environmental Impact

• The decommissioning process includes an environmental impact assessment, which considered cross-border impacts and involved consultations with neighboring countries.
• The area around the Ravn field is characterized by relatively low biological production but is part of the Dogger Bank, which exhibits high primary production throughout the year.

Infrastructure

• The platform is connected to the A6-A platform via an 8-inch multiphase production pipeline and a 3-inch gas lift pipeline. Additionally, a 5.7-inch umbilical provides chemicals, fiberoptics, and electricity to the Ravn platform.
• The pipelines run through both German and Danish waters, with the production pipeline crossing the 40-inch Europipe I at the Danish shelf.