Project History the nineties
1990
No damage to Mittelplate Island through spring storms Vivian and Wiebke, which cause devastation in North Germany. No incidents of note during the year’s operations.
1991
Pilot phase completed. The project has been proven to be entirely feasible in terms of environmental protection, production engineering, expected production rate and transport safety.
Continuation and expansion of oil production is governed by an approved, extended operating plan. Findings of new environmental studies show that no lasting non-natural changes (apart from actual construction of the Island) have occurred in the tidelands. Total crude production of 1 million mt by end of year.
1994
Another state-of-the-art well is drilled to run horizontally through the reservoir and produce more oil from a longer path through the oil-bearing sandstone.
1995
Production rate at Mittelplate to be doubled to around 1,750 mt per day in 1996. The extension measures required for this purpose are initiated on the Island after approval of the main operating plan by all relevant authorities.
A second tank barge to transport additional production is under construction, to be completed by the end of the year.
A second gas turbine is installed on the Island to improve emission protection. Surplus petroleum gas is no longer flared, but turned into electricity for environmentally compatible consumption. Autumn: Cable laid to Friedrichskoog on the mainland to feed surplus power not required on the Island into the supply grid; no harm to environment during cable-laying operation.
1996
The expansion of technical equipment on the Island is completed on time. Summer: Annual production raised to 550,000 mt of crude.
Autumn: Following official approval, additional seismic studies are carried out in the Meldorf Bay area to find out more about the deep basement in this area. The aim is to supplement incomplete seismic data and provide valuable information on exact position and extent of Büsum salt diapir, the eastern reach of oil-bearing rock towards the coast, and the possibility of accessing more distant sections of the reservoir through extended reach wells drilled from the mainland.
1997
Findings from the previous year’s shallow-water seismic studies allow experienced drilling crews to drill the first onshore exploratory well during the summer. For this purpose, extensive environmental protection measures are put in place at the drilling site in Friedrichskoog. The Dieksand 1 well is drilled to determine geological formations near the coast and to evaluate the onshore production potential.
The 10-year anniversary of the start of production on Mittelplate Drilling and Production Island, and a successful track record. More than 3 million mt of crude have been produced from the oil deposit of the same name without a single incident. The drilling, production and transport concept developed specifically for this extremely sensitive tideland region has stood the test of time in all possible conditions.
Enhancements to production facilities and the expansion of transport capacities boost the annual production rate to 800,000 mt by year-end. Production continues from existing facilities. A third tank barge is built and joins the fleet transporting the crude produced on the Island. October: 3-D seismic studies are conducted to find out more about the geological formations in the oil reservoir.
The results of the onshore Dieksand 1 well are evaluated, and preparations for a further well are under way. December: The drilling operations for Dieksand 2 well start on schedule; drilling is expected to take six months. The experts face enormous technological challenges: to reach the target formation at a depth of around 2,000 meters, the extended-reach well needs to be drilled to a length of over 8,000 meters in a westward direction. Pioneering advances in extended-reach engineering make this possible.
1998
May: Successful completion of the Dieksand 2 production well, sunk at Friedrichskoog and reaching the oil-bearing Dogger sands in the eastern section of the Mittelplate field after total drilling length of 7,727 meters – one of the world’s longest extended reach wells.
Production from Mittelplate Island continues to run incident-free. Two more wells are drilled in order to safeguard the field’s production potential. An environmental report presented at the end of the year confirms that drilling and production operations have had no significant impact on the environment.
1999
Spring: Positive findings on the potential exploitation of oil reserves lead to the start of construction of onshore oil treatment facilities in Friedrichskoog, as well as a pipeline to transport clean oil, associated gas and condensate to Brunsbüttel, for distribution to customers. The work is to be concluded by mid-2000.
End of year: Two more extended reach wells of 8,284 and 8,367 meters are successfully drilled into target formations. The primary aim of Dieksand wells is to develop the highly productive eastern section of Mittelplate oil field. The additional onshore production potential is around 1 million mt p.a. Production from the expansive western section of the reservoir, which is inaccessible from the mainland, continues from Mittelplate Island. T
he total production from Mittelplate Island by the end of 1999 is nearly 4.9 million mt. Tidal restrictions on the transportation of crude from the Island limit the annual production to around 800,000 mt. Schleswig-Holstein’s parliament passes new National Park legislation in October 1999. Operations from Mittelplate Island, now a Category 2 Protection Zone, are still permissible.
