Skene, one of our most recent developments in the North Sea, produced its first gas in December 2001. The £250 million project involved drilling five subsea wells and connecting them to new facilities on the existing Beryl Alpha platform situated some nine miles away.

Like the Beryl field, the producible oil and gas from Skene is contained within reservoir sands of the triassic and jurassic age. These sands are buried more than two miles beneath shale, siltstone and limestone. In addition, numerous subsurface faults have broken the reservoir into independent compartments.

The technical complexity of the project could not be under estimated.  

Skene was first discovered in 1976 but the challenges of developing the field meant that tough questions had to be asked - could the technical problems be overcome and would the development be economically viable?

ExxonMobil's expertise as a world leader in drilling technologies and our commitment to finding cost-effective solutions has finally brought the project on-stream.

The Skene development is a prime example of how the economic recovery of oil and gas from the North Sea can be optimised by using new techonologies and existing infrastructures.

Skene is expected to produce 180 million cubic feet of gas per day, plus 25,000 barrels of associated liquids.