The Dunlin Field, Blocks 211/23a and 211/24a, UK North Sea

Abstract

AbstractThe Dunlin Oilfield is located in the East Shetland Basin, 160 km northeast of the Shetland Islands. It lies in UK Blocks 211/23a and 211/24a in about 500 ft of water. The field was discovered in June 1973 by well 211/23-1. The oil accumulation is trapped, in a north-south oriented, tilted fault block at the western margin of the Viking Graben, at a depth of about 8500 ft TVSS. The reservoir is contained in the formations of the Middle Jurassic Brent Group. In the Dunlin area they form a 450 ft thick sequence of sands and intercalated minor shales, which has been deposited by a shore face and delta system prograding northwards across the Viking Graben. The seal is formed by the shales of the Middle/Upper Jurassic Heather Formation. Reservoir properties of the Brent sands are fair to good with porosities of up to 30% and average permeabilities in the range from 10 to 4000 md. Development of the field is carried out from a single platform, from which production started in 1978. To date 40 development wells have been drilled and the total cumulative production amounts to 282 MMBBL of an ultimate recovery of 363 MMBBL.