BP to invest in Kinnoull field
On behalf of its co-venturers BP is pleased to announce an agreement to invest up to £700 million to progress a project to develop the Kinnoull reservoir in the central North Sea.
Kinnoull is the largest of three reservoirs that are being developed as part
of the Andrew Area developments project, and contains
45 million barrels of oil equivalent. The reservoir will be connected to
BP’s Andrew platform and enable production to be
extended to 2020 and beyond.
Production from Kinnoull is forecast to peak
at 45,000 barrels per day and be exported via the existing Forties pipeline
system to Kinneil and the CATS pipeline system to Teesside.
Trevor
Garlick, Regional President for BP’s North Sea business said 'The Kinnoull
project is a further demonstration of BP’s vision to sustain a material and high
quality business in the North Sea region. It is also a showcase for the
outstanding subsea expertise that exists within the UK. At its peak the project
will create employment for over 1,000 people in the UK.'
Charles Hendry,
Minister of state for Energy and Climate Change said: 'I am pleased to see that
BP is taking forward the development of the Kinnoull field. With around 90% of
the development involving UK firms, this is a real big win for our domestic
supply chain and shows that the thriving North Sea oil and gas sector continues
to deliver economic benefit. I hope major global players continue to harness the
expertise of UK companies as new developments come forward'.
In order to access the new reservoir, the project will install a new subsea
system and caisson onto the Andrew platform. The backbone of the subsea system
will be 4 subsea bundles with a total length of 28 km - the longest bundle
system in the world - which will carry the fluids to the Andrew platform for
processing. The bundle system is being fabricated by Subsea 7 at its facility in
Wick, Scotland.
To accept the new Kinnoull production fluids, and to
facilitate the production from the Lower Cretaceous reservoir below the Andrew
reservoir, the Andrew platform will undergo major modifications including the
addition of a 750 ton process module. Construction will be completed over 2
years, with the flotel Borgholm Dolphin on location throughout. The Andrew
platform is expected to be shut down for 18 months during this campaign during
which time operational work will also be undertaken to maintain the efficiency
and integrity of the existing Andrew platform facilities.
The new
facilities are scheduled to commence production in 2013.
BP owns 77.06%,
with other interests as follows: Eni (16.67%); Summit (6.27%).
