BP OKs bundle system tieback for Kinnoull in North Sea

Sept. 15, 2011
BP and partners Eni and Summit will commit up to £700 million ($1.1 billion) to develop the Kinnoull reservoir in the central North Sea.

Offshore staff

ABERDEEN, UK – BP and partners Eni and Summit will commit up to £700 million ($1.1 billion) to develop the Kinnoull reservoir in the central North Sea.

Kinnoull, which contains 45 MMboe, is the largest of three reservoirs under development for the Andrew Area project. It will be connected to BP’s Andrew platform, helping to extended production beyond 2020.

At peak, Kinnoull should deliver 45,000 boe/d, which will be exported via the Forties oil pipeline system to Kinneil in Scotland and via the CATS gas pipeline system to Teesside, northeast England.

Development will involve installing a new subsea system and adding a caisson to the Andrew platform. There will be four subsea bundles with a total length of 28 km (17.4-mi) - the longest bundle system in the world, BP says - carrying the fluids to the Andrew platform for processing.

Subsea 7 is fabricating the bundle system at its facility in Wick, Scotland.

To receive Kinnoull’s fluids and facilitate production from the Lower Cretaceous reservoir below the Andrew reservoir, the Andrew platform will undergo modifications including the addition of a 750-ton process module.

Construction should be completed over two years, with the floatel Borgholm Dolphin assisting throughout.

The program will necessitate an 18-month shutdown of the Andrew platform, during which time operational work will be performed.

Kinnoull and the new facilities should enter production in 2013.

09/15/2011