Mol and its partnbers announced the first oil extraction at the Catcher, UK oilfield. Over the coming months production is expected to be ramped up in phases, initially from the Catcher field followed by the Varadero and Burgman fields. MOL Group’s partners are Premier Oil (50%, operator), Cairn (20%) and Dyas (10%). MOL holds a 20% stake in the Catcher project.

Berislav Gašo, MOL Group’s Executive Vice President for Upstream commented: “MOL Group would like to congratulate the Catcher Area Development Project team for achieving this significant milestone. This has been a real team effort with challenging wells, a state of the art subsea systems and a new built FPSO all delivered safely.”

The Catcher Development lies in the UK Central North Sea approximately 180 km off the North East coast of Scotland. The development comprises three separate fields which are Catcher, Burgman and Varadero. The reservoirs lie in a water depth of around 93 metres. It is intended that the fields will be produced from 19 subsea wells. In Phase 1 a total of 12 wells have already been drilled, completed and tied back via subsea infrastructure to a new build FPSO (Floating Production Storage and Offloading). Phase 2 drilling is ongoing with well number 14 being completed.

The build of the FPSO commenced in Japan with first steel for the hull being cut in January 2015. In August 2016 the hull was towed to Singapore to Keppel’s Benoi shipyard for mating with the topsides equipment. On mechanical completion in August 2017 the vessel was towed to the North Sea and installed on location in October.

The FPSO, which is owned by BW Offshore, is 240m long X 50m wide X 27m deep and is approximately as long as 2 football pitches. It weighs over 56,000 tonnes, has a storage capacity of 650,000 barrels of oil and is home to a workforce of around 120 workers.

The oil will be offloaded by tankers from the FPSO while the gas will be exported through the Shell-Esso Gas and Liquids (SEGAL) facilities.