RWE Dea Fires Up Gas Production at Clipper South

RWE Dea's subsidiary in the United Kingdom, RWE Dea UK, announced Monday the delivery of first gas from the Clipper South field in the southern North Sea. The field contains around 13.4 billion normal cubic meters of gas in place.

The first Clipper South well came on stream at initial rates of 1.2 million cubic meters per day. Production is expected to peak at 2.8 million cubic meters per day in early 2013. The gas is located in a tight Permian age Rotliegend reservoir which contains approximately 13.4 billion normal cubic meters of gas in place. RWE Dea holds 50 percent interest in the Clipper South gas field as operator.

"The United Kingdom is one of the key regions of RWE Dea's upstream business," explained Ralf to Baben, Chief Operating Officer of RWE Dea AG. "We are delighted to have reached this key milestone on the Clipper South project, which is the first of our current growth projects in the UK coming on stream," to Baben added. RWE Dea's commitment to the future of the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS) is demonstrated by its investment in both the Clipper South and Breagh field developments, where it acts as operator.

"I am particularly pleased that we have undertaken this development without any incidents and just under a year and a half from securing Government sanction," said Rene Pawel, Managing Director RWE Dea UK. The development of the field achieved full partner sanction in July 2010 and the Field Development Plan was approved by the Government in March 2011.

"To reach this milestone, we benefited especially from our broad experience with fracture technology," explained Pawel.

Multiple fracture technology is becoming more widespread in its use offshore in the UK Southern North Sea, but it is still a relatively new technology. The Clipper South field is being developed by drilling up to five horizontal multi-fractured wells. The first well was drilled by the Ensco 92 (210' ILC) rig to a depth of 16,086 feet (4,903 meters) and was stimulated with eight hydraulic fractures.

The Clipper South Gas field lies in the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS) blocks 48/19 and 48/20, 62 miles (100 kilometers) east of the Lincolnshire coast. Gas from the Clipper South platform is transported about 9 miles (15 kilometers) to the Lincolnshire Offshore Gas Gathering System (LOGGS) and then about 62 miles (100 kilometers) to the onshore Theddlethorpe Gas Terminal in Lincolnshire, where the gas enters the UK grid.

The Clipper South platform is a single wellhead steel structure weighing approximately 3,000 tonnes with accommodation for 40 persons. The accommodation and platform layout facilitates well intervention operations without a drilling rig. Once steady production is established from the field, it is planned to operate the field unmanned with control of the wells from the LOGGS platform.

The licensees are:

• RWE Dea UK SNS Ltd (operator): 50%
• Bayerngas Europe Ltd: 25%
• Fairfield Acer Ltd: 24%
• Fairfield Cedrus Ltd: 1%