Dana Petroleum has entered the detailed engineering design phase on the $1.5 billion Western Isles development project in the UK North Sea.

The Western Isles project will develop two discovered oil fields called Harris and Barra in the Northern North Sea, 160km east of the Shetlands and 12km west of the Tern field. The nine-well development is expected to add more than 26,000 barrels of oil equivalent to Dana's daily production.

Paul Griffin, Dana's UK Managing Director said,'Western Isles is a very important project for Dana and a key part of our strategy to double daily production to more than 100,000 barrels of oil equivalent by 2016. Work on the detailed engineering design will begin immediately and the project is expected to receive full approval from the UK Government towards the end of 2012, with first oil production expected in 2015.'

Tags: Dana Petroleum