TAQA Bratani Announces First New North Sea Oil Well on Stream

Wednesday, Oct 28, 2009

TAQA Bratani, (the UK arm of the Abu Dhabi National Energy Company PJSC), today announced production from its first new North Sea oil well. The well was drilled from the TAQA Bratani operated North Cormorant platform and was completed safely, on time and within budget.

This latest producing well is a side track from the existing CN30 well in the Brent reservoir of the Cormorant field and lies in around 530 feet of water. The well is expected to produce around 10,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day.

Leo Koot, TAQA Bratani Managing Director, said:   “This is another milestone for TAQA Bratani. In the nine short months since we purchased four operated platforms we have achieved a tremendous amount, including reactivating the dormant North Cormorant platform drilling rig to full working order and successfully drilling this significant producing well. 

“This is a testament to the hard work of our people and our commitment to building a material business in the North Sea, driving development, creating employment and extending the field life of our producing assets.”

The new production well is part of a programme of activity TAQA Bratani has planned for 2009/2010, which includes further platform in-fill drilling and mobile drilling for sub-sea development wells. Seismic has also been acquired on all TAQA Bratani northern North Sea acreage and is being processed to identify further development targets.

Lord Hunt, Energy Minister, said: “This is very good news for the North Sea and the UK economy. The Government is actively encouraging increased activity in the North Sea and it is heartening to see TAQA delivering on its promise and investing in its recently acquired assets. This is the kind of activity which will protect jobs and help secure the long term future of the basin.”

Contact Details

TAQA
Anne Blaydon, TAQA Bratani Limited
PR Manager
Tel: +44 1224 275565
anne.blaydon@taqaglobal.com

Tanis Thacker, TAQA Abu Dhabi
Head of Investor Relations
Tel.: +971 2 661 4933
tanis.thacker@taqaglobal.com

Tom Fraser, Capital MS&L
Tel: +44 207 307 5341
tom.fraser@capitalmsl.com

Notes to Editors

The North Cormorant platform, in Block 211/21a, is around 175km (109 miles) north-east of the Shetland Islands in the northern North Sea in around 530 feet of water.

In December 2008 TAQA Bratani purchased 100% interest and operatorship of the following fields:

Tern field;
Kestrel field;
Eider field;
North Cormorant field;
South Cormorant field;
Pelican field.

The company also purchased a combined 26.73% interest in the Dana operated Hudson field together with a 16% interest in the Brent System and a 24% interest in the Sullom Voe Terminal.

In August 2009 TAQA Bratani assumed operatorship of the North Sea Brent System on behalf of 21 partners.

In September 2009 TAQA Bratani was granted full operator status for its four producing platforms - North Cormorant, Cormorant Alpha, Tern and Eider.

With the addition of the new well production, TAQA Bratani currently produces around 50,200 barrels of oil equivalent a day from the UKCS and has a development program with a capital expenditure of £500 million over the next three years.

TAQA Bratani employs directly and indirectly some 800 personnel in the UKCS and onshore.

Abu Dhabi National Energy Company PJSC (TAQA)
Founded in 2005, TAQA (Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (PJSC)) is a global energy company with a growing asset base of almost US$25 billion. One of the largest companies listed on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX), with 2008 revenue of more than US$ 4.4 billion, TAQA is a flagship corporation for the Government of Abu Dhabi. 

TAQA’s strategic goal is to build and operate a geographically diverse global portfolio of energy businesses across the value chain. It has operations in power generation, water desalination, upstream oil/gas, pipelines, and gas storage.

TAQA employs approximately 3,000 people from 41 different nations and operates from its offices in: Abu Dhabi, UAE; Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA; Aberdeen, Scotland; Amsterdam and The Hague, Netherlands and Calgary, Canada. This footprint is further extended through alliances with partners across Africa, the Middle East, Europe, North America and India. 

TAQA carries an Aa2 credit rating from Moody’s.

Source: TAQA