Mariner: Over Five Thousand Flights to First Oil
As we near the end of 2019, let’s take a look back at another notable field start-up this year: Mariner.
Norwegian national operator Equinor brought onstream the Mariner oil field in the UK on August 15th 2019. The ultra-heavy oil field was originally discovered by Unocal in 1981 and it took a further 31 years before the operator at the time (Statoil acquired the field in 2007 and subsequently re-branded the company as Equinor) would move forward with a $7.7 billion final investment decision late in 2012. The field is expected to produce at a plateau rate of 55,000 bopd and to be operational for 30 years, producing some 300 million barrels of oil from a reserve base of 3 billion barrels.
Equinor describe Mariner as one of their "most innovative offshore developments." With the application of technology, how does that change the role for people and the need for crew transfer? What does the data tell us about such a state-of-the-art offshore field development? Air & Sea Analytics takes a closer look at Equinor’s Marnier project....