First gas has been achieved at Tolmount in the North Sea, the huge project to be processed at Centrica’s Easington facility in East Yorkshire.
Harbour Energy confirmed the long-awaited milestone, which will increase UK production by five per cent at a vital time for the country.
The announcement came as the company revealed its overall production was up 35 per cent.
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Harbour is also behind the huge carbon storage plans off Lincolnshire - a vital element in the bid to decarbonise heavy industry on the South Humber Bank. Further commitments were made to that as the V Net Zero project enters the planning process with an initial consultation on the pipeline. Strong financial performance to underpin such investments was highlighted too.
Linda Z Cook, chief executive, said: “We have had a strong start to the year. Our increased production reflects the addition of the Premier portfolio, improved operating reliability and increased UK drilling activity. The Tolmount field in the UK began production in April and, once plateau levels are reached, the project is expected to increase UK domestic gas production by more than five per cent.
“We continue to invest in high return, infrastructure-led opportunities within our asset base to sustain production while at the same time generating material free cash flow. This together with our robust balance sheet provides us with significant optionality over future capital allocation.
“We are committed to producing oil and gas responsibly. As well as taking action to reduce emissions from our operations, we are very focused on progressing our CCS activities in the UK which include the V Net Zero project in the Humber region and an interest in the Acorn project in Scotland. These projects have the potential to capture and store multiple times Harbour's annual emissions."
Centrica has valued the Tolmount processing contract at £120 million, with significant new infrastructure put in place to deal with what is extracted from the field, 50km off the Yorkshire coast.
It was awarded the contract by joint venture partners Premier Oil (now Harbour) and Dana Petroleum in 2018.
At least 10 years of production has been eyed, securing 80 jobs for that term, with indications there may be more gas in the immediate area than the initial 500 billion cubic feet registered.
Construction at Easington includes upgrades to compression facilities, and improvements to the control room to allow it to be operated from there.
In the field four wells have been drilled with an unmanned topside platform also operated from the terminal. The process prior to entering the grid network involves removing water and a light oil condensate, drying and compressing.
Work was completed through the pandemic, and hampered by supply chain shut downs and the ability to move people quickly.
Further technical issues also emerged, kicking the initial first production target date back almost 18 months.
Tolmount joins Spirit Energy’s York field in being controlled from Easington, as well as the Rough maned platform, where plans to convert for hydrogen storage form part of the wider Net Zero ambition of the region.
