The Fram field, off the East Coast of Scotland, is one of the biggest developments to be given the go ahead in the past five years. Once production starts, the field is expected to recover an average of 35,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day. Fram, which is unrelated to a Norwegian North Sea field of the same name, is expected to have a field life of 20-30 years.

The Fram field is located in UKCS Blocks 29/3c and 29/8a and comprises gas-condensate within Palaeocene age deep marine turbidite sandstones trapped within a 4-way dip closure around a pierced salt diapir. Fram was discovered by exploration well 29/3-1 in 1969, which was one of the first gas discoveries in the UK Central North Sea for the Shell/Esso Joint Venture. At the time, Fram was considered to be uneconomic due to the complex structural and stratigraphic nature of the discovery, concerns over reservoir quality and compartmentalisation, the relatively small in-place volumes by comparison with other contemporary discoveries and the comparatively higher market value of oil and lack of nearby gas processing and export infrastructure. The Fram discovery was later appraised in 1999 by well 29/3a-6.

In 2007 and 2008 the Joint Venture undertook a re-evaluation of the Fram discovery, including reservoir characterisation studies, 3D seismic interpretation, AVO amplitude analysis and inversion, petrophysical analysis and integrated 3D static and dynamic reservoir modelling. This detailed subsurface evaluation, in conjunction with subsea and facilities engineering studies the decision was taken to further appraise the discovery through the drilling of the 29/3c-8,8z appraisal wells in Q1 2009.