• A contract for a Geophysical Survey covering the Anning and Somerville field developments has been awarded to GEOxyz UK Limited following a competitive tender and evaluation process.
• Mobilisation of the Geo Ocean III vessel to the Anning and Somerville field locations is expected to occur during April 2023.
• In-situ geotechnical testing and laboratory testing of seabed samples taken from selected preferred platform and inter-field pipeline locations at the Anning and Somerville sites will be conducted.
• The results of the geophysical survey will form a critical component of the Environmental Statement and understanding of the seabed and pipeline route conditions at the Anning and Somerville field locations required for the platform FEED jacket design verification.

Hartshead Resources has awarded a contract for a Geophysical Survey across the Anning and Somerville fields and interfield pipeline locations to GEOxyz UK Limited (GEOxyz), following a competitive tender and technical and commercial bid evaluation process.

The Geo Ocean III with DP2 Dynamic Positioning Capability

It is expected that the Geo Ocean III, a 77 metre second generation Dynamic Positioning (DP2) Multi-Disciplined Offshore Survey Vessel, with specialist deep-push Cone Penetration Testing (CPT) and vibrocoring capability, will be mobilised to the Anning and Somerville field locations in April 2023.

The main objectives of the geophysical survey is to provide the Company with an interpretation of the seabed geomechanical and engineering conditions at the Anning and Somerville field locations as well as an environmental baseline survey and habitat assessment.

The survey will consist of the following components:

• A detailed analogue and 2D high resolution survey over a 1,000 metre x 1,000 metre square box centred on the Anning and Somerville jacket locations;
• A 400 metre X 400 metre more detailed analogue survey to inform the exact emplacement of the Anning and Somerville jackets;
• In-situ seabed mini-CPT (Cone Penetration Testing) and vibrocorer sampling at 1,000 metre intervals of the inter-field pipeline route between the Anning and Somerville jacket locations for the purposes of geo-mechanical and geo-environmental seabed characterisation;
• Onshore and offshore laboratory testing of seabed samples taken during the sampling operations.

The results of the Geophysical Survey will form part of the Environmental Statement which is a key component of the Field Development Plan (FDP) submission and is also required for the Platform Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) jacket design verification. 

Chris Lewis, Hartshead CEO, commented: 
“The Phase I development is progressing well, with work across platforms, pipelines, wells and offtake moving forward. The survey at the platform locations will confirm seabed conditions for the platform jacket design and provide data for the environment statement to be submitted in 2023. These are all positive steps along the road to first gas.”

KeyFacts Energy: Hartshead UK country profile