Denmark

RWE Dea has been operating in Denmark since the 1980s. Years of exploratory effort were finally rewarded by the Nini-1 and Cecilie-1 offshore oil discoveries in the year 2000. In May 2002 government approval was received for the two fields to begin production. RWE Dea holds a participating interest of 30% in the Nini field (DONG is operator with 40%, Altinex holds 30%), and another of 17% in Cecilie (DONG is operator with 22%, Altinex holds 61%).

The two fields were developed by drilling several production wells (including horizontal wells). Production commenced in the fall of 2003. In the year 2007, the Nini 5 well in the eastern part of the Nini license struck oil. Development of the Nini East discovery is planned for 2009.

To allow these relatively small reserves to be developed efficiently, so-called unmanned wellhead platforms were installed at the discovery sites. The untreated crude produced by these wellheads is piped to the neighbouring Siri platform, where it is treated and stored before transportation.

Licences

 

Production from oil fields Nini and Cecilie

Three pipelines each were installed from the Nini and Cecilie platforms to the Siri platform:

  1. The oil mix is taken to the central Siri facilities through the multi-phase pipelines.
  2. Separated and dehydrated gas is piped back from the Siri platform to the satellite platforms through the lift gas pipelines and re-injected into the production wells to ’lift’ the crude from the production well.
  3. Injection water pipelines take the separated water from the Siri platform back to the production sites where it is also re-injected into the oil reservoirs at a depth of approx. 2,300 meters in order to maintain the pressure inside the Nini and Cecilie reservoirs, in line with the principle: the higher the reservoir pressure, the more efficient the production.