WORK to bring a third well at the Rhum field into production is going to cost Serica £3 million more than expected.
Bosses said progress has been “slower than had been anticipated” due to two factors – a technical problem with equipment and poor weather.
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The technical issue led to 28 days of downtime and the weather halted work for 11 days.
As a result, the project will cost Serica £3 million more than expected.
The company said that figure could have been higher, but for some financial protections built into the agreement with Awilco.
Awilco’s WilPhoenix rig began operations at the field in October but operations won’t be completed before late January.
Mitch Flegg, Serica chief executive, said: “We are pleased with the performance of our offshore production operations over the past three months, which have also benefited from the significant strengthening of gas prices during that period.
“The delays to the Rhum R3 Intervention Project are frustrating but do not affect its viability or long-term value.
“We are not prepared to take shortcuts, despite the slower than hoped progress, as we remain fully committed to a safe execution of the originally planned work scope.
“An update will be given once rig operations are complete.”
The company also announced it was withdrawing from Namibia to focus on its North Sea portfolio.
It said: “The pace of exploration activity in Namibia has been slower than we hoped, and the development of any discovery would likely have been expensive, time consuming and inconsistent with our sustainability objectives.”
