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 DENMARK
North West Europe
From 1963 the Danish Government granted the ship owner AP
Møller a concession covering all Denmark’s territorial waters and
continental shelf.
In 1966 this company (later the DUC consortium) drilled
the first well in the Danish part of the North Sea, which was also the
first oil find in the whole North Sea. A series of oil and gas fields
went on to be discovered with fractured Late Cretaceous Chalk
reservoirs.
 In 1972 first oil was produced from the Dan field. In
1981 DUC was forced to relinquish undeveloped parts of its large
concession area and since 1983 areas have been offered in license rounds
and in 1996 an Open Door procedure for certain areas was also
introduced.
The Danish Energy Authority was established in 1976,
which deals with matters relating to oil and gas activities in Danish
territory. In 1981, production from the Gorm Field commenced and through
the 1980s the Skjold, Tyra and Rolf fields, were brought onstream with
further fields intermittently developed through the 1990s.
Except for the Siri field all have Chalk reservoirs. Most
oil comes from the four older fields (Dan, Gorm, Skjold and Tyra), and
from three younger ones, (Halfdan, Siri and South Arne), all commencing
production in 1999. Collectively, these fields account for around 85% of
Danish oil production.
Oil produced in fields operated by Mærsk is conveyed
through a pipeline to receiving facilities in Fredericia. The oil from
the South Arne and Siri Fields, operated by Amerada Hess and DONG
respectively, is loaded into tankers at the fields. The Chalk reservoirs
require considerable pressure support and water injection is used in all
of them.
Gas production from Denmark was running at around 7.6 Bcm
per year in 2004 with another 2.5 Bcm re-injected, primarily into the
Tyra Field to boost oil production. The Tyra field has produced around a
third of Denmark’s gas but is now in decline.
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