Harbour brings UK's Tolmount field on stream

Harbour Energy has achieved first gas at its Tolmount project in the UK North Sea, the company announced in a May 11 trading update.

The field, which arrived on stream in April, is expected to deliver a major boost to offset declines at maturing North Sea Projects. At peak output, Harbour claims Tolmount will be responsible for a 5% increase in the UK's indigenous gas supply.

Its reservoirs are expected to yield around 40,000 barrels of oil equivalent/day at the height of its operations. Harbour operates the project, under a 50-50 joint venture with Dana Petroleum.

Tolmount lies in block 42/28d in the UK southern North Sea, around 40km east from the Yorkshire shoreline. It comprises a core deposit and a satellite field at Tolmount East, though the latter's launch is not expected until next year.

Natural gas from Tolmount is being dispatched via a pipeline to Yorkshire, the Humber Gathering System, for processing at Centrica's branch of the Easington gas terminal. To support the additional gas flows, Easington has been upgraded with new compression facilities and its control rooms equipped with new capabilities.

Tolmount was discovered by E.ON in 2013.  It is now estimated to contain around 24mn boe in natural gas reserves, up from 13.76mn boe under E.ON's operatorship. 

Harbour twice suffered delays bringing Tolmount on stream, having originally envisaged launching in late 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic hampered its ability to finish construction work, and electrical faults discovered in its offshore extraction platform caused a second delay last year.