The Athena oilfield is located in UK Continental Shelf block 14/18B in the central North Sea at a water depth of 130m. It is situated in the Outer Moray Firth area.
The field is operated by Ithaca Energy, which owns a 22.5% interest in the field. Ithaca bought the licence in 2005 in partnership with Dyas UK (47.5%), EWE Aktiengesellschaft (20%) and Zeus Petroleum (10%). Ithaca initially owned a 70% interest in the field, but later sold a 47.5% stake to Dyas UK.
Development drilling and fabrication began in January 2011, and the final production well was drilled and fully cased in June. First production is expected in the fourth quarter of 2011 after the completion of a fifth development well and commissioning of the BW Athena floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel.
Discovery and geology
Athena was discovered in 1991. A total of ten exploration wells have been drilled in the block since 1978.
The reservoir is characterised by lower cretaceous upper leek sandstone within the Scapa unit. Overlying Scapa shelves seal and trap the sandstone to the north-west and north-east.