Oil and gas operators working in the UK sector of the North Sea made significant improvements in efficiency last year, according to Glacier Energy Services. The Aberdeen-based consultancy said in a statement dated February 18 that its Glacier Production Index (GPI) showed a 19.2% drop in downtime over the first nine months of 2019.
Offshore operators also succeeded in boosting uptime during the same period, Glacier said. The GPI shows that average levels of uptime rose from 80% in the first nine months of 2018 to 83% a year later, it noted.
“Increasing efficiency has attracted fresh investment in the North Sea, as the industry looks to continually reduce its cost base while extending the lifecycle of its assets,” commented Scott Martin, Glacier’s executive chairman. “Downtime frequency is just one barometer of how successfully this is being achieved.”
Despite these improvements, the consultancy warned that efficiency levels were set to decline this year. Downtime levels are sure to increase in 2020 because the Forties Pipeline System, which handles a large volume of crude from North Sea fields, is scheduled to suspend operations for a period of three weeks, it explained.