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 A new oilfield located in United Kingdom waters a year ago in an area said to be of limited potential is now believed to be the largest North Sea discovery in the last 25 years with reserves of more than a billion barrels of oil.
The Buzzard discovery was made by the EnCana company, formerly known as PanCanadian Energy (UK), in June 2001 in an area about 100 kilometres (62 miles) north-east of Aberdeen on the coast of Scotland.
 Since then, EnCana as operator for a group of partners has drilled eight appraisal wells and sidetracks and now plans to seek government approval for its development later this year with the aim of starting production in 2005.
The company plans to spend around a billion United States dollars on the project after its engineers had estimated that the field had between 850 million and 1.1 billion barrels of oil in place. The field was originally mapped in 1994 and formed part of an area of the North Sea that was licensed for exploration by Amoco (BP) a year
later.
 In 1998, PanCanadian Energy (UK) mapped an extension to Buzzard and was given a licence for the southern area of the search block. The fIrst exploration well was sunk in April last year and its success in indicating much larger reserves than originally thought was announced two months later. Appraisal drilling started last November.
UK Energy Minister Brian Wilson said: "The scale of this discovery sends out a powerful message to other independent, innovative firms about the remaining opportunities in the North Sea. Through initiatives such as the fallow field exercise, government and industry are working together to ensure continued exploration and economic recovery of North Sea oil and gas. The Buzzard discovery was made in an area previously believed to be of limited potential at a time when the United Kingdom Continental Shelf (UKCS) was considered to be mature."
 The UK government is seeking to renew activity in 250 offshore areas and 200 discoveries that are no longer being worked on for various reasons. Its fallow fields initiative has brought government and industry together to promote activity through the agreed release of such acreage and discoveries or the resumption of exploration and appraisal.
Mr. Wilson has also announced the development go-ahead for the first of five small marginal oil/gas fields in the East Irish Sea. The Calder Field, owned by Burlington Resources, will cost 150 million pounds sterling to develop and its reserves of seven billion cubic metres of gas will be brought ashore through a 50 km (31-mile) pipeline. Production from its unattended wellhead platform is expected to start late next year.
 Mr. Wilson added: "The Calder Field is the fIrst of five fields in the Rivers cluster and it was an excellent initiative to develop several small, marginal fields together in this way. The other four Rivers' fields, Darwen, Crossans, Hodder and Ashland, will be produced as spare capacity becomes available in the Calder facilities. The new infrastructure will also open up opportunities for other developments in the East Irish Sea area. The Rivers fields highlight the continuing development of the UKCS and they will be a significant contribution to the security of UK gas supplies."
Source: London Press Service, web site at:
http: www.london.press.net
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