Perenco submits production plans for Platypus gas field in Southern North Sea

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British-French oil and gas company Perenco has submitted production plans for the Platypus gas field in the UK’s Southern North Sea. 

In filings with the Offshore Petroleum Regulator for Environment and Decommissioning, the company confirmed its plans to drill two new gas wells and install a minimal facilities platform (MFP) in the Platypus field, lying around 67 km from Humber estuary, along with two new 16.5 km pipelines tying production back to its existing Neptune platform. Gas will then be exported through existing pipelines to the Dimlington gas terminal in Humberside via Perenco’s large offshore Cleeton processing hub. 

Perenco expects the field to have a 16-year lifetime. Discovered in 2010, development plans for Platypus were initially submitted in 2019 by Dana Petroleum, with production expected to begin in 2022. However, the first gas is now expected in late 2029, with drilling, pipelaying and installation of the MFP completed earlier that year. 

Peak production in 2030 could be up to 7,839 boe/d. Although Cleeton currently processes hydrocarbons from eight fields in the Southern North Sea, Platypus could more than double the plant's total production to 14,461 boe/d. 

Perenco is the main operator of offshore facilities off the Norfolk, Lincolnshire and Yorkshire coasts, having acquired all of BP’s Southern North Sea assets in 2012.