Oil production on the Hydro-operated Grane platform has restarted after a nine-day planned shutdown for repair and maintenance on the gas compression trains.
The work carried out during the shutdown between 10 and 19 July has been successful and has proceeded according to plan. A power turbine has been replaced, amongst other things.
"Oil production on Grane depends on the gas injection system functioning satisfactorily, and we expect that these repairs will increase the regularity of the gas compression equipment," says Erik Sverre Jenssen, vice president with responsibility for the North Sea in Hydro Oil & Energy.
Oil production started again on Monday afternoon. By Tuesday morning the production rate was up to 80,000 barrels per day, and will soon reach 140,000 barrels per day. As new wells are linked up, production will increase further. Plateau production of 215,000 barrels per day will be achieved in the middle of 2005.
Grane had some problems with sand production from some of the predrilled wells. It was therefore decided to build a more robust sand screen for the platform-drilled wells. The first came onstream in June and produces a sand-free wellstream. This will therefore provide the long-term solution for dealing with sand problem.
"We are also working on different measures to limit sand production in the predrilled wells. We expect that these will ensure sufficient well capacity," says Jenssen.