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Wintershall: UK North Sea platform remotely controlled from Den Helder
18.10.2011 + + + Wintershall Noordzee has brought onstream the Wingate gas production platform in the UK southern North
Sea.
The facility in block 44/24b will initially produce 1.5 MMcm of natural gas, but this rate should double after a second producer well comes on line next year.
Gas extracted from a subsurface depth of 3,700 m (12,139 ft) is transported via a pipeline to the GDF Suez-operated D15-A platform, 20 km (12.4 mi) away on the Dutch side of the North Sea median line.
From there Wingate’s gas flows over a distance of 300 km (186 mi) to the Dutch mainland near Uithuizen. Production from the Wingate platform is managed via Wintershall’s Remote Controlled Operations (RCO) center in Den Helder, the Netherlands.
Wintershall now controls 20 platforms overall from the RCO, 18 in the Dutch North Sea and one in the German
sector.
The company says remote operation has reduced by one-third the number of transport and supply flights normally needed to the platforms.
Wintershall was awarded block 44/24b under the UK’s 22nd offshore licensing round in 2004. It discovered the gas field in 2008.
The platform was built at Dutch yards in Dordrecht and Ridderkerk, under a 10-month program. It is 1,200 sq m (12,916 sq ft) in size, with a 950-t deck and a 45-m (147-ft) tall, 850-t jacket.
Wingate’s platform is fully self-sufficient in energy: a mini-power turbine station generates electricity from the produced gas.
Source: Wintershall AG
Published in Offshore Magazine
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