Total’s fields shatter the one billion barrel barrier

● Firm exceeded expectations for its Elgin-Franklin complex

Abillion-barrel milestone for the ElginFranklin complex in the UK North Sea shows “just what our industry can achieve through its innovation, perseverance and pioneering mindset”, oil and gas chiefs said last night.

Industry body Oil and Gas UK (OGUK) also insisted the region still held “significant potential”.

OGUK market intelligence manager Ross Dornan said: “Our focus is to support our world-class supply chain to ensure the UK North Sea continues to be a place where our industry makes the most of ongoing opportunities, including our key contribution to delivering energy security and the energy transition.”

He was speaking after French energy giant Total announced the landmark achievement of one billion barrels of oil equivalent (boe) from its Elgin-Franklin gas condensate fields, 150 miles off Aberdeen, surpassing estimates from nearly 20 years ago.

A £1.6 billion investment brought the development on stream in 2001, starting with Elgin and followed later by Franklin.

Elgin-Franklin was originally expected to deliver less than 800 million boe but additional discoveries have raised the bar.

Total Exploration and Production UK central North Sea asset director Pierre Cuisnier said:

“Reaching a billion barrels is a fantastic achievement. I’d like to congratulate the entire offshore and onshore asset and support teams who have worked extremely hard to make this possible.

“As one of the world’s largest high-pressure, high temperature developments, these fields are very important to Total.

“They continue to outperform expectations after almost 20 years, most recently demonstrated by achieving three years without a lost time incident and close to 100% operating efficiency in 2020 to date.”

In 2012, more than 200 people were evacuated from Elgin-Franklin after a gas leak. No one was hurt but the incident is believed to have cost Total billions of pounds.