After several delays, Petrofac has informed that the FPF1 semi-submersible production platform will be ready for sail-away to the Greater Stella Area development, in the UK North Sea, by the end of this month.

Petrofac is working on the FPF-1 modifications program in the Remontowa shipyard in Poland.

The Ithaca-operated Greater Stella Area is located in the heart of the Central Graben area of the Central North Sea, on the UK Continental Shelf.

The plan for the joint development of the fields was approved by the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) in April 2012. The Greater Stella Area is centered on the drilling of subsea wells tied back to the FPF-1 floating production unit, with the onward transportation of processed hydrocarbons to nearby existing oil and gas export infrastructure.

Ithaca recently said that the period from sail-away of the 82 m long, 75 m wide and some 30 m high platform to first hydrocarbons would be approximately three months. Therefore, first production from the Stella field is expected in September 2016.

All the subsea infrastructure that is required to be installed prior to the arrival of the FPF-1 on location is in place and all five Stella development wells have been drilled and tested.