BP Announces First Oil from Kinnoull Field in Central North Sea

30th December 2014

Subsea7 at Wick fabricated bundles for the project.

BP, on behalf of the Kinnoull field co-venturers, is pleased to announce the start of production from the Kinnoull field in the central North Sea. Kinnoull is BP's seventh and final major upstream project start-up in 2014.

The Kinnoull reservoir, developed as part of a wider rejuvenation of the Andrew field area, is tied back to BP's Andrew platform, 230 kilometres east of Aberdeen, and is expected to enable production there to be extended by a further decade.

In order to access the reservoir, a new subsea system has been installed, together with a 700 tonne topside processing module on the Andrew platform. Production is now carried from the Kinnoull field to the Andrew platform via a 28 kilometre subsea pipeline bundle - the longest such system in the world - for processing and onward export via the Forties pipeline system (oil) and the CATS pipeline system (gas).

The investment included extensive refurbishment of the Andrew platform to improve its integrity and operational efficiency.

Trevor Garlick, Regional President for BP's North Sea business said: "50 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.

"The combination of brownfield and greenfield development work – carrying out material upgrades, improving the reliability of existing facilities and retrofitting new facilities onto 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."

Production from Andrew and Kinnoull is forecast to peak at over 50,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, and is expected to make a significant contribution to BP's commitment to grow its operating cash flow.

Lamar McKay, BP's Upstream Chief Executive commented: “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 re-start 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 over 1,000 people in the UK.

UK Energy Minister Matthew Hancock said: “The Kinnoull project is a great example of the continued commitment shown by the government and the offshore industry to make the most of the North Sea's remaining resources. Working together we are maximising the potential of our domestic oil and gas reserves, securing both jobs and energy supplies.”

BP operates and has a 77.06% interest in Kinnoull, alongside co-venturer JX Nippon Exploration and Production (U.K.) Limited (22.94%). Andrew is operated by BP, with a 62.75% interest, with co-venturers JX Nippon (27.39%) and Talisman-Sinopec (9.86%)

Notes to editors BP in the North Sea: The North Sea is an important region for BP and it expects to sustain a significant business here for the long term. Along with its co-venturers, BP is investing over £7 billion in the North Sea over the next five years, including in a number of major projects in the central North Sea and Shetland area. BP has an active exploration and appraisal programme in the North Sea, and announced in October the Vorlich discovery in the central North Sea. Last year's 27th licencing round in the UK was BP's most successful since the 1990s, having been awarded licences in over 14 blocks. BP has so far been awarded seven licence blocks across the northern and central North Sea as part of this year's 28th licensing round. Andrew Area Development project Since it started production in 1996, BP's Andrew platform has processed and exported over 200 million barrels of oil and the equivalent of a further 40 million barrels in associated gas. The new subsea system has the following key components:

Three subsea trees above the Kinnoull reservoir to control the new production wells.

A collection manifold at the Kinnoull end of the pipeline system, housing valves to divert the fluids along the bundle and metering to collect production data. Closest to Andrew, the bundle terminates in the pipeline end manifold which contains subsea isolation valves. Midway along the bundle system is a tie-in structure to accommodate potential future development of the Arundel oil field.

The backbone of the subsea system is the 28 km pipeline bundle, which carries the fluids to the Andrew platform for processing. The bundle contains 3 internal pipes: a 3-inch methanol line, a 6-inch gas lift line and an insulated 14-inch production line. The 28 km pipeline system was installed as four separate 7km sections.

The caisson, a 130 metre long riser containing all the pipework to carry the fluids and signals between the platform and the seabed.

Detailed engineering was performed in Aberdeen by JP Kenny and Wood Group Engineering. Over 2 million man hours were spent to complete the design work. Key items were fabricated and delivered from: Wick: Subsea 7 fabricated and launched the four bundle sections;

Aberdeen: Enterprise fabricated pipe spools, associated pipe supports, and structures for offshore hook-up of the new module;

Aberdeen: Wood Group PSN delivered offshore construction;

Aberdeen: Cape delivered scaffolding, painting, fire protection and insulation for offshore hook up and modifications;

Leeds: Cameron machined and assembled the subsea trees;

Aberdeen: Qedi delivered commissioning support;

Aberdeen: Subsea 7 subsea construction;

Bristol: Vetco Gray manufactured and tested the subsea control system;

Invergordon: Isleburn fabricated the riser Caisson and subsea structures;

Newcastle: Duco produced the 28km umbilical and Bel fabricated the subsea valves;

Hartlepool: Heerema built and commissioned the 700 tonne process module;

Aberdeen: Baker Hughes/Hydratight delivered leak testing and flange management;

Aberdeen: Prosafe provided the flotel Safe Caledonia;

Aberdeen: Isleburn delivered caisson riser fabrication and loadout.