The Markham Field is a gas accumulation lying within the Southern North Sea and straddling the UK-Netherlands median line. The field is a structural trap comprising a well defined horst in its eastern lobe and a domal feature in the western lobe. The Permian Lower Leman/Slochteren Sandstone reservoir comprises aeolian dune sandstones in the southern part of the field passing northwards and upwards through sabkha deposits into a playa claystone. Diagenesis and reservoir quality are highly dependent on original lithofacies with the aeolian sandstones containing the majority of the net reservoir. The gas, sourced from Carboniferous Coal Measures and sealed by overlying Permian Silverpit claystones, is sweet with 83% methane and a condensate-gas ratio of around 52.2 m 3 /m 3 x 10 6 (9 BBL/ MMSCF). The reservoir is being produced by pressure depletion with wells drilled from two fixed platforms. Recoverable reserves are estimated to be around 19.8 x 109m 3 (700 BCF) of gas.
The Markham project is unremarkable by most current project benchmarks. It is not a marginal field and it is being developed with essentially conventional technology. It does however differ from most conventional developments in several key areas. It is the first field to be developed which straddles the UK/Netherlands median line and needed a treaty. A coordinated response from both the UK and Netherlands governments was therefore required to ensure that a treaty would be in place in time for production to commence on schedule.It is the first field involving the export of UK gas to continental Europe. It is also one of a very few fields in the UK or Netherlands to produce gas under various contracts.The reservoir quality varies in a general North West-South East direction across the UK/Netherlands median line. This led to concerns that distribution of recoverable reserves would be different to that of Gas-in-Place. This resulted in a variation on standard equity determination methodology. Its geographic location is noteworthy in that it lies along the northern margin of the Rotliegendes sandstone fairway at some distance from any other known Rotliegendes field of a significant size.
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