Type:
Gas
Facility:
Production
Water Depth:
46
Installed:
2020
meters
Block:
D-Block
Design:
Fixed steel
Sub Structure:
1563
Topsides Wgt:
769
tonnes
tonnes
Intro
A fixed steel unmanned gas production satellite platform installed in 2019–2020 on the Sillimanite field in the Dutch Southern North Sea. It began production in February 2020 using a reused topside from the decommissioned E18-A platform. D12-B’s role is gas production and export via subsea pipeline infrastructure to the D15-A host facility.
Field
The Sillimanite gas field is a cross-border gas reservoir in Carboniferous sandstone situated off the Dutch and UK continental shelves. Discovered in 2015, the field is developed with D12-B and D12-A satellite platforms. Gas is exported via D15-A and onward through the Noordgastransport pipeline system. The field is unitised with government treaty arrangements enabling joint development.
Facilities
D12-B comprises minimal wellhead and production facilities serving multiple subsea wells tied back to the platform’s separation and metering equipment. The topside, repurposed from earlier installations, includes separation trains, flow control manifolds, and export pumps/compressors sized for field capacity. A ~12-km 10-inch subsea pipeline connects to D15-A for gas export to shore. Utilities such as power generation are sized to support unmanned operations with remote control systems routed via umbilical to the host. Dehydration and chemical injection systems mitigate flow assurance issues; the installation is designed for low-maintenance remote operation.
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