The Leman gas field is a natural gas field located in the North Sea.The field is 30 miles north-east of Great Yarmouth and is named after the Leman Sandbank beneath which it is situated. The gas reservoir is an 800 ft thick Rotliegendes sandstone reservoir at a depth of about 6,000 ft. It is about 18 miles long by 5 miles wide. It was discovered in August 1966 and extends across two blocks. Block 49/26 is licensed to Shell and Block 49/27 was originally licensed to the Amoco-Gas Council joint venture, Block 49/27 is now licensed to Perenco UK Ltd. The field was discovered in 1966 and began production in 1968 and produces natural gas and condensates to the Bacton Gas Terminal on the coast of Norfolk via several pipeline systems. The total proven reserves of the Leman gas field are around 11 trillion cubic feet, and production is slated to be around 200 million cubic feet/day.
Development
The Shell Leman 49/26A installation began production in August 1968. It had initial recoverable reserves of 292 billion m3. It is connected to the Shell terminal at Bacton. Leman 49/26B and 49/26B began production in November 1970. Leman 49/26C began in February 1972. Leman 49/26D began in August 1974. Leman 49/26E started in August 1983. Leman 49/26F and 49/26G began in September 1987. The Leman complex of platforms are connected to Bacton via Leman 49/26A, which is east of the Hewett complex. A decommissioned 36-inch pipeline formerly delivered gas from Leman 49/26BT to Bacton. Gas and condensate is piped to Bacton via Leman 49/26A Complex. Block 49/27 of the Leman field is licensed to, and operated by, Perenco UK Ltd, originally by the Gas Council-Amoco. BP took over the interests of Amoco in 1998 and operated as BP-Amoco, subsequently BP. Perenco UK Ltd took over the interests of BP in the Leman and Indefatigable fields and BP plant at Bacton in 2003. The field had initial recoverable reserves of 292 billion m3. It comprises the following installations, platforms and complexes: Leman 49/27A ; 49/27B ; 49/27C ; 49/27D ; 49/27E ; 49/27F ; 49/27G; 49/27H; and 49/27J. Gas is routed to Bacton via two 30-inch pipelines from Leman 49/27A and Leman 49/27B. In the mid-1990s the glycol dehydration facilities of several installations in the Inde and Leman fields was decommissioned. This enabled the installations to become normally unattended installations reducing manning costs and the risks to personnel.
