Offshore staff
ABERDEEN, UK – BP has started production from the Kinnoull field in the UK central North Sea as a tieback to the Andrew platform, 230 km (143 mi) east of Aberdeen. This should extend the productive life of the Andrew facilities by a further decade.
Development involved installing a new subsea system and a 700-metric ton (771-ton) topside processing module on the Andrew platform, which also underwent extensive refurbishment to improve its integrity and operational efficiency.
Production from Kinnoull is exported to the platform via a 28-km (17.4-mi)subsea pipeline bundle, said to be the world’s longest. Following processing, the oil heads to eastern Scotland via the Forties pipeline system, with the gas sent through the CATS pipeline system. Production from Andrew and Kinnoull should peak at over 50,000 boe/d.
Trevor Garlick, regional president for BP’s North Sea business said that this was “one of the most challenging offshore projects BP has undertaken in the North Sea. As we now look to continue our investments and meet the challenges of a toughening market environment, we also need to continue to improve the efficiency and competitiveness of our North Sea business.”
Lamar McKay, BP’s upstream chief executive, added: “Advances in our understanding of the reservoir structure, deployment of the very latest in UK subsea engineering skills and a major project to upgrade and safely re-start the Andrew platform were key factors in this successful development.”
BP operates Kinnoull with a 77.06% interest, in partnership with JX Nippon Exploration and Production (U.K.). Its partners in Andrew are JX Nippon and Talisman-Sinopec.
12/30/2014
