The Marigold oil field is located in block 15/13a, approximately 250km north-east of Aberdeen in the central North Sea, UK. Credit: Teekay Corporation.
The Marigold field will be tied back to the Voyager Spirit FPSO. Credit: Worley.
The new Marigold subsea production wells will be tied back to the FPSO through a production manifold. Credit: Vismar UK / Shutterstock.

The Marigold oil field is located in block 15/13a within the production licence P198, approximately 250km northeast of Aberdeen in the central North Sea, UK.

Situated at a water depth of approximately 140m, the field is operated by Anasuria Hibiscus UK (AHUK), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Malaysian oil and gas company Hibiscus Petroleum, with an 87.5% interest. Caldera Petroleum (UK), an affiliate of Indian offshore drilling services provider Aban Offshore, holds the remaining 12.5% interest in the field.

The Marigold oil field along with a smaller discovery Sunflower lying northeast of block 15/13a forms a part of the Marigold cluster asset. Other assets in the cluster include Teal West discovery, Crown field and Kildrummy discovery.

The Marigold cluster is estimated to contain 28.9 million barrels of undeveloped 2C resources. The oil field is expected to begin production in the first quarter (Q1) of 2023.

Background of Marigold oil field development

AHUK acquired a 50% interest in blocks 15/13a and 15/13b covering the oil-bearing Marigold and Sunflower fields from Caldera Petroleum (UK) in October 2018.

It submitted a concept select report to the UK Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) for the development of the Marigold and Sunflower fields in August 2019. A no-objection letter for the selected concept was received in October 2019.

A field development plan for the Marigold project including Marigold and Sunflower fields was submitted to the OGA in December 2020. The environmental impact assessment and environmental statement were submitted to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS). In 2021, AHUK increased its interest in Marigold and Sunflower to 87.5%.

The company also acquired a 100% interest in licence P2366 (blocks 15/18d and 15/19b) containing the Crown discovery from United Oil & Gas and Swift Exploration in December 2019. It executed the licence agreement for a 100% interest in block 15/17a comprising the Kildrummy discovery, located 8km away from Marigold, in January 2021.

British oil and gas company Ithaca Energy acquired the production licence P2158 containing block 15/18b from Total E&P UK in February 2020. The acquired licence comprises the Yeoman discovery and the southern extent of the Marigold discovery.

AHUK agreed to co-develop the Marigold field with Ithaca Energy’s Yeoman discovery, renamed Marigold East, in May 2021.

Marigold oil field development details

The Marigold oil field will be developed in two phases. Phase one will involve drilling three subsea production wells that will be tied back to floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel through a production manifold.

Expected to begin in late-2022, phase two will involve the additional development of Marigold wells together with wells in the Sunflower field and potentially Crown, Kildrummy, and Yeoman fields. The wells developed in the second phase will also be tied back to the FPSO.

FPSO details

The Voyageur Spirit FPSO that previously worked on upstream exploration and production firm Premier Oil’s Huntington field in the North Sea, UK, since April 2013 is being upgraded and repurposed to support phase one of the Marigold field development. It is a cylindrical SEVAN 300 type FPSO with ten riser slots and 12 spread mooring lines. The 60m-diameter vessel can accommodate 57 people.

The oil production capacity of the Voyageur Spirit FPSO is 30,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd), while the storage capacity is 270,000 barrels. The vessel provides a gas handling capacity of 38 million standard cubic feet per day (MMscfd), and a total liquids processing capacity of 60,000bpd.

Contractors involved

Canadian shipping company Teekay is providing the Voyageur Spirit FPSO for the Marigold field development.

Global project services company Worley secured the contract to provide front-end engineering and design (FEED) services for the field development. The contractual scope includes multiple-discipline FEED delivery for the modification of the FPSO. The FEED will define the changes to be made as part of the FPSO upgrade to accommodate the process fluids.