Woodside to fast track Enfield

WOODSIDE Petroleum Ltd plans to fast track development of its wholly-owned Enfield oil field in permit WA-271-P on the North West Shelf.

Following completion of screening studies which demonstrated a stand-alone field development of Enfield is likely to be commercially viable, the company has approved expenditure of $54.6 million to progress development.

The field has had its reserves upgraded to sixty-four million barrels in the probable category.

An appraisal well is planned for Enfield in the third quarter of 2000 which will assist in optimising development planning for the field.

Production testing of this well will be undertaken to confirm the connectivity of the reservoir.

The current development plan is based on a leased floating production, storage and offtake platform.

Studies have also been conducted on the adjacent Vincent oil accumulation, which was assessed as larger than Enfield.

Greater uncertainties exist with respect to the development of this field. It is technically more challenging and is likely to straddle the permit border with WA-155-P.

Additional work will be required to demonstrate that Vincent is commercially attractive.

Recovery for the WA-271-P part of Vincent is estimated at sixty-one million barrels of oil in the probable category.

Further exploration of permit WA-271-P is planned for later this year to test prospects within tie-back range or the Enfield development which could materially influence the sizing of production facilities.