Energy major BP has confirmed first oil production from its new £700 million Kinnoull field in the central North Sea.
The company had initially expected the reservoir which has been developed as part of a wider rejuvenation of the Andrew field area, which lies 230km east of Aberdeen to come on-stream in late October, but the timetable was extended.
However, the achievement of reaching production at Kinnoull is significant given that it is 50 years after BP was awarded its first exploration licences in the North Sea, and comes amid a backdrop of uncertainty for the industry following a steep fall-off in the price of oil to below $60 a barrel.
BP yesterday said it expected production from Kinnoull and Andrew to peak at more than 50,000 barrels a day when the field is working to capacity, and the wider rejuvenation scheme was expected to extend the field’s life by a further decade.
Output from the field in which BP has a 77.06% stake along with joint venture partners Eni or Italy (16.6%) and Japan’s JX Nippon Oil & Energy Corporation will be exported via the Forties pipeline to the Kinneil processing plant at Grangemouth before passing through the Central Area Transmission System (Cats) to Teesside.
“Fifty years after BP was awarded its first licences in the North Sea, the successful start-up of Kinnoull demonstrates our continued commitment to maximising recovery from the basin,” said Trevor Garlick, regional president for BP’s North Sea business.
“The combination of brownfield and greenfield development work carrying out material upgrades, improving the reliability of existing facilities and retro-fitting new facilities on to an existing platform added significantly to the complexity of this project.
“In successfully delivering it, we have completed 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.”
In order to access Kinnoull the longest subsea pipeline bundle system in the world was installed, together with the addition of a new 700-tonne topside processing module on the Andrew platform.
The investment also included extensive refurbishment of the Andrew platform to improve its integrity and operational efficiency.
The upgraded field is expected to make a significant contribution to BP’s commitment to grow its operating cash flow.
BP’s Upstream chief executive Lamar McKay said: “The Kinnoull project is significant to both our North Sea business and BP more widely, and is a clear example of our strategy in action.
“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 restart the Andrew platform were key factors in this successful development.”
Around 90% of the project’s investment occurred in the UK, and at its peak the project created employment for more than 1,000 people in the UK.