West of Shetland Development Gathers Momentum

Abstract

BP is ramping up its West of Shetland operations with the UK government approval to push ahead with the second phase of its giant Clair field development, Clair Ridge. Plans to redevelop the Schiehallion and Loyal fields with a new floating production, storage, and offloading vessel (FPSO) are also gathering pace. The Clair reservoir is the largest known hydrocarbon resource on the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS), occupying an area of 220 sq km. It is located approximately 75 km west of the Shetland Isles in 459 ft of water. Because of its size and complexity, it is being developed in phases. Clair Ridge, in UKCS Block 206/8, lies to the northeast of Clair Phase 1 and will be tapped with a pair of bridge-linked platforms—a drilling and production (DP) facilities platform and an accommodation and utilities (QU) platform. The new platforms have a 40-year design life and will require a total capital investment of about GBP 4.5 billion (USD 7.16 billion). The topsides for the two platforms are being built in modular form by Hyundai Heavy Industries in South Korea and will be transported to the Clair Ridge field on five Dockwise heavylift vessels. Kvaerner Verdal in Norway is building the platform jackets. The DP jacket will have a total weight of 22,300 tonnes and the QU jacket will weigh 9,000 tonnes. Peter Brawley, the Clair Ridge hook-up and export systems manager, said the sheer scale of the project is a challenge in itself. “This is a huge platform we are building. The biggest platform we operate on the UKCS at the moment is Magnus at 34,000 tonnes and here, we have topsides of 40,000 tonnes. It is bigger than anything we have built in the UKCS, so the scale is a challenge,” he said. “On the QU platform we have one large 10,000 tonne module, which comprises the bulk of it. On top, we have a power generation module and on the side, we have the accommodation module. We will have three lifts on QU. “On DP, we have the DP East module, the DP West module, each of which is around 10,000 tonnes. Then we have the compression module that goes on top of DP East and then we have the drilling support module and the drill rig itself. The final two modules are the flare boom and the bridge,” he said. The facilities will have a maximum processing capacity of 120,000 BOPD, which will flow to the Clair Phase 1 pipeline through a new oil export pipeline and onward to the Sullom Voe Terminal. The DP platform will also be tied into the West of Shetland Pipeline System through a carbon steel gas export pipeline.