The Hutton, NW Hutton, Q-West and Darwin fields, Blocks 211/27 and 211/28, UK North Sea

Abstract

Abstract Hutton (discovered in 1973) and NW Hutton (discovered in 1975), together with Q-West (discovered in 1994) and Darwin (discovered in 1983, undeveloped), are part of a single petroleum system. The main fields were defined as two separate legal entities. Although Q–West covered multiple blocks, it was wholly developed via the Hutton platform. Together, Hutton and NW Hutton produced 328 MMbbl of oil and a small quantity of associated gas from Middle Jurassic Brent Group sandstones. The trap is a complex series of tilted fault blocks sealed by Mid–Upper Jurassic Heather and Kimmeridge Clay Formation mudstones. Oil was sourced from the Kimmeridge Clay Formation, which is mature for oil generation in the hanging walls to the field-bounding faults and deep on the footwall flanks. NW Hutton underperformed relative to Hutton. In part this was due to the poorer reservoir quality encountered at depth compared with the shallower Hutton Field but a significant component of the underperformance was due to the way in which the field was developed and then operated. Both fields contain areas of unproduced and unswept oil, with the NW Hutton portion having the largest remaining oil in place.