# West Sole gas field

The West Sole gas field is a natural gas and associated condensate field located under the North Sea 44 miles (70 km) off the East Yorkshire coast. The field produced Britain’s first offshore natural gas in 1967.

## The field

The West Sole gas field is a substantial natural gas field located in the UK North Sea. The field is named after the Sole Pit area of the southern North Sea beneath which the field is situated. The gas reservoir is a Rotliegendes sandstone of Lower Permian age located at a depth of 9,000 feet (2,740 m) with a thickness of 262–430 feet (80–131 m). The reservoir is capped by Zechstein salt. The West Sole structure runs north-west to south-east and is about 12 miles long and 3 miles wide (19 km by 4.8 km). It was discovered in 1965 and extends over Block 48/6 only. The original determination of the gas in place amounted to 57 billion cubic metres. The field was originally licensed to BP Exploration UK Ltd, in 2012 ownership was transferred to Perenco UK Ltd. Production from the field began in March 1967; this was the first British offshore natural gas delivered onshore for commercial use. Gas and associated condensate are exported from the field via two pipelines (16 inch and 24 inch diameter) to the Easington gas terminal, East Yorkshire.
The West Sole gas composition and properties are as follows.
West Sole gas properties :
| Composition | % |
| Methane | 94.0 |
| Ethane | 3.2 |
| Propane | 0.6 |
| Butane | 0.2 |
| Pentane | 0.1 |
| Hexane | 0.1 |
| Heptane | Trace |
| Nitrogen | 1.5 |
| Carbon dioxide | 0.2 |
| Gas gravity | 0.594% |
| Mean condensate content | 2.0 bbl/million cu ft |
| Calorific value | 1024 Btu/cu ft |

## Development

The West Sole and adjacent fields have been developed through a number of offshore installations.
West Sole field offshore installations :
| Installation | Block | Platform | Function | Type | Legs | Well slots | Installed | Production start | Production to | Export pipeline, length, diameter | Pipeline number |
| West Sole WA complex | 48/6 | West Sole WA main platform | Drilling & production | Steel jacket | 14 | 4 | July 1966 | March 1967 | Easington | 70 km, 16-inch | PL28 |
| West Sole WA complex | 48/6 | West Sole WAP platform | Drilling & production | Steel jacket | 4 | – | July 1966 | March 1967 | WB platform | – | |
| West Sole WA complex | 48/6 | West Sole WAS platform | Drilling | Steel jacket | 4 | 3 | August 1974 | 1974 | WA main platform | – | |
| West Sole WB | 48/6 | West Sole WB platform | Drilling & production | Steel jacket | 16 | 6 | November 1966 | March 1967 | Easington | 70 km, 24-inch | PL145 |
| West Sole WC | 48/6 | West Sole WC platform | Drilling & production | Steel jacket | 16 | 6 | August 1969 | 1970 | WB platform | 4 km, 12-inch | PL94 |
| West Sole WE | | West Sole WE platform | Drilling | Steel jacket | 4 | 1 | July 1967 | 1967, platform removed 1978 | WA main platform | | |
| Hyde | 48/6 | Hyde platform | Production | Steel jacket | | 3 | 1993 | July 1993 | WB platform | 11.5 km, 14-inch | PL937 |
| Newsham | 47/7a | – | Production | Subsea | – | 1 | 1996 | June 1996 | WA platform | 12.4 km, 8-inch | PL1171 |
| Hoton | 48/7 | Hoton platform | Production | Steel jacket | | | | 2002 | WB platform | 11.8 km, 8-inch | PL1875 |
| Babbage | 48/2 | – | Production | Subsea | – | | 2010 | August 2010 | WB platform | 27.9 km, 12-inch | PL2612 |
| Seven Seas | 48/7c | – | Production | Subsea | – | 1 | 2012 | 2012 | Newsham | 8.1 km, 8-inch | PL2641 |
Some of these installations were one of the 'Villages' gas fields; named after villages lost to the sea along the Holderness coast. These villages include: Cleeton, Dimlington, Hoton, Hyde, Newsham and Ravenspurn.
Gas production from the fields is summarised on the table.
Production data :
| Field | Recoverale or gas in place, bcm | Peak production, bcm/y | Peak production year | Cumuative production to end of 2014, mcm |
| West Sole | 57 | 2.28 | 1972 | 57,619 |
| Hyde | 4.22 | 0.46 | 1994 | 3,764 |
| Newsham | 1.36 | 0.127 | 1997 | 768 |
| Hoton | | 0.420 | 2002 | 2,385 |
| Babbage | 5.0 | 0.518 | 2011 | 1,213 |
| Seven seas | | 0.153 | 2013 | 182 |
Note: mcm = million cubic metres, bcm = billion cubic metres.
The production profile, in mcm/y, of the West Sole gas field was as shown. Up to the end of 1977 18,154 mcm had been produced.