BP PLC plans to invest as much as £700 million to further develop Kinnoull oil field on Block 16/23 in the central North Sea. The Kinnoull reservoir, which is estimated to contain 45 million bbl of oil equivalent, is considered the largest of three reservoirs being brought on as part of the Andrew Area developments project.
BP expects Kinnoull to reach a peak production of 45,000 boe/d after start up in 2013. The development plan calls for connecting three subsea completed wells in 110-120 m of water to BP’s operated Andrew platform on Block 16/28, enabling Andrew to continue production beyond 2020, BP said.
The work will involve the installation of a subsea system and a 130-m riser on the Andrew platform. The subsea system includes four subsea bundles with a 28-km length, which will be the longest bundle system in the world, according to BP.
The bundle contains a 3-in. methanol line, a 6-in. gas lift line, and an insulated 14-in. production line. A tie-in structure lies midway along the bundle system to facilitate development of Arundel oil field, also on Block 16/23.
BP plans to install the pipeline in four separate 7-km sections.
The work also will include the installation of a 750-ton process module on Andrew to facilitate production from the Lower Cretaceous reservoir below the Andrew reservoir.
During the work, BP expects to shut down the Andrew platform for 18 months.
From Andrew, production will enter the existing Forties pipeline to Kinneil and the Central Area Transmission System (CATS) pipeline to Teesside.
BP has a 77.06% interest in the project. Partners are Eni UK Ltd. 16.67% and Summit Petroleum Ltd. 6.27%.
Contact Eric Watkins at [email protected].
