British oil major BP, on behalf of co-venturers Shell, Chevron and ConocoPhillips, announced first oil production from the giant Clair Ridge project in the West of Shetland region off UK. Clair Ridge is the second phase of development of the Clair field, 75 kilometres west of Shetland. The field, which was discovered in 1977, has an estimated seven billion barrels of hydrocarbons.
This line of developments will follow from 2017’s seven major project completions and is set to deliver the 900,000 barrels of oil equivalent new production that BP expects from new upstream major projects by 2021.
The Claire Ridge, project includes:
- A 5.5 km, 22-inch oil export pipeline that is tied to the Claire Phase 1 export pipeline, exporting to the Sullom Voe Terminal on Shetland;
- A 14.6 km, 6-inch gas export pipeline tied to the West of Shetland Pipeline Systems;
- An advanced drill rig which is set to deliver a drilling programme for many years to come;
- 36 well slots. 2 out of 36 are used for the tieback of pre-drilled wells.
The new facilities are set to produce for 40 years, and required an investment of $4.5 billion.
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The beginning of this production follows other 5 major projects that started earlier in 2018, which are Atoll Phase One, offshore Egypt, Shah Deniz 2 gas development in Azerbaijan, TAAS expansion project in Russia, Western Flank B offshore Western Australia and Thunderhorse Northwest Expansion in the Gulf of Mexico.
