BP in North Sea

BP has been a leading operator in the North Sea since the mid 1960s and is still the largest UK investor and producer

BP North Sea activity encompasses the complete industry lifecycle in both the UK & Norway – exploration, new development, production & decommissioning. We operate over thirty offshore and onshore assets and key infrastructure including the FPS and CATS pipelines and Sullom Voe Terminal. Currently, 4,000 staff and 1,000 contractors are directly employed in the UK and Norway in operations, support and major projects.

North Sea technology focus areas are in seismic imaging (in particular 4D seismic), enhanced oil recovery from our waterflood fields, improving asset integrity and plant reliability and maximising the value of the North Sea’s extensive digital infrastructure through collaborative ways of working and field of the future technologies.

In October 2011 BP announced that it had received formal Government approval for the execute phase of the Clair Ridge project. The UK Prime Minister, David Cameron, joined Bob Dudley in the Aberdeen office to announce the £4.5 billion investment. BP also announced major progress with its Devenick gas project; a new discovery in another part of the Clair field and its cumulative plans for the UK section of the North Sea - a £10 billion investment programme over the next 5 years.

BP Exploration and Production in the North Sea

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Skarv

Operator: BP
BP Working Interest: 23.8%

The Skarv Development consists of the development of the Skarv gas and oil field and the Idun gas field. Both fields contain hydrocarbons at three reservoir levels and the total recoverable resource basis is estimated to 16.8 MSm3 of oil and condensate and 48.3 billion standard cubic meters of rich gas.

The Skarv field is located in the Norwegian Sea, 200 km west of Sandnessjøen, between the Norne field (35 km to the north) and Heidrun (45 km to the south) in water depths between 350 and 450 m.

The development solution is a Floating Production, Storage and Offloading vessel (FPSO) linked to subsea wells. Oil export is via shuttle tanker and gas export via the existing Gassled infrastructure, to the European continent.

Devenick

Operator: BP
BP Working Interest: 88.7%

Devenick is a high-temperature and high-pressure (HPHT) Upper Jurassic gas and condensate field in the UK sector of the North Sea. The development will connect gas production from one new and one recompletion well to the Devenick subsea manifold via insulated flow lines to Marathon Oil’s East Brae platform via a single insulated 34 kilometre pipeline.

Production will be processed through a new module built and installed by Marathon on the platform. From the East Brae platform the gas will be exported through the SAGE transportation pipeline system to the terminal at St Fergus. Oil production will be exported from the East Brae platform through the Brae Liquids Pipeline to the Forties Pipeline System. The field is located 35km from the Marathon (MOUK) Operated East Brae Platform.

Kinnoull

Operator: BP
Working Interest: 77%

The project consists of the development of the Kinnoull reservoir along with pre-investment work to enable future development of the Arundel and Lower Cretaceous (LC) reservoirs. Kinnoull is 28 km northeast of the existing Andrew Platform in approximately 115 meters of water. The project consists of 3 subsea wells drilled as a single cluster. Tie back to the platform will be via a 28 km pipeline.

Oil will be exported from the platform to the Forties Pipeline System and Gas will be exported through the CATS system. Significant brownfield modifications to the Andrew platform include the addition of a 750 tonne process module, installation of a 220 tonne riser caisson, strengthening of the Andrew decks and associated tie-ins.

Topsides modifications require an 18 month outage of the host platform, over 1 million manhours of offshore construction work, and a floatel on location for 20 months.

Clair Ridge

Operator: BP
Working Interest: 29%

The Clair Ridge Project is the second phase of development in the Clair Field which is a 7bn boe (STOIIP) resource located approximately 60 kilometres West of Shetland extending over an area of 220km² in water depths of approximately 140 meters.

The project scope includes provision of new production, accommodation and drilling facilities, on two bridge-linked platforms with capacity to drill 36 wells; subsea pipelines tied into the existing export systems; brownfield modifications to Clair Phase 1 and the Sullom Voe terminal; and development wells, some of which will be pre-drilled. The wells will be lifted using gas lift.

Oil will be exported via the existing pipeline to Sullom Voe Terminal and associated gas will be transported via existing infrastructure to the beach. A LoSal^TM unit will be provided to increase oil recovery. Provision will be made for future subsea tie-backs.

Quad 204

Operator: BP
Working Interest: 36.3%

The Quad 204 project consists of a new FPSO to replace the existing Schiehallion FPSO; an extension of the existing subsea system with 15 new/replacement flow lines and 21 new/replacement risers; and 14 new wells in addition to the 52 existing wells.

The project is designed to produce 130 mbd of oil and 220 mmscfd of gas compression. Gas will be exported through sale to Magnus for EOR purposes.