The start of production from an oil field in the Danish waters of the North Sea could serve as a testing ground for future development, a German company said.
The regional subsidiary of German energy company Wintershall, Wintershall Noordzee, said Wednesday it started production from the Ravn field, its first in the Danish waters of the North Sea.
The company said the field was developed using what it called an "appraisal through development concept," which makes it so the company can both test and develop the reservoir's performance. Wintershall said this could open the door for further field development options.
"Ravn paves the way for potential further oil and gas developments in this region," Robert Frimpong, the company's managing director, said in a statement.
Wintershall confirmed the presence of oil in the Ravn field during its operations in 2009. At the time, the company said that previous operators, working in the field in the late 1980s, said discoveries in there area were commercially unattractive for development.
In December, regional counterpart Maersk Oil said the lack of a viable economic solution for the Tyra natural gas field, the largest in the Danish North Sea, meant production will end in late 2018. The company said that, even after spending more than $140 million on reinforcing structures associated with production over the past 15 years, safety was becoming a clear factor.
Wintershall said crude oil from the Ravn field is fed into the existing export network to the Dutch market.
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