BP starts oil flow from Quad 204 project west of Shetland

BP PLC has started oil production from the redeveloped Schiehallion area following completion of the multibillion-pound Quad 204 project in the west of Shetland region offshore the UK. Production is expected to ramp up to 130,000 b/d through the remainder of the year.

The project has included the construction and installation of the 130,000-b/d Glen Lyon harsh-water floating production, storage, and offloading vessel, replacement of subsea facilities, and a continuous drilling program of as many as 20 wells to enable the full development of reserves (OGJ Online, Dec. 11, 2015).

With seven new production system manifolds, the overall subsea system capacity has been expanded beyond 75 wells. The FPSO is connected to subsea via 21 new risers, including 15 production risers, 3 gas risers, and 3 water injection risers. The 15 production risers are connected to 15 production flowlines totaling 55 km in length. Gas risers and water injection risers are connected to existing infrastructure.

Schiehallion and the adjacent Loyal fields were first developed in the mid-1990s and have produced nearly 400 million bbl of oil since production started in 1998 (OGJ, Aug. 17, 1998, p. 38). The fields’ redevelopment through the Quad 204 project is expected to result in the recovery of an additional estimated 450 million bbl of resources, extending the life of the fields beyond 2035.

The Glen Lyon FPSO is operated by BP with 36% interest alongside partners Royal Dutch Shell PLC 54% and Siccar Point Energy Ltd. 10%. Schiehallion field interest is Shell 55%, BP 33%, and Siccar Point Energy 12%. Loyal field interest is split 50-50 between BP and Shell.

BP is planning to double its UK North Sea production to 200,000 boe/d by 2020 and sustain a material business in the region for several decades. Production from the new Clair Ridge major project is expected next year. Over the next 18 months, BP plans to participate in up to five exploration wells in the UK in addition to drilling 50 development wells over the next 3-4 years.

Quad 204 is the third of seven upstream major projects BP expects to bring online in 2017, following the earlier startups of the Trinidad onshore compression project and the Taurus-Libra development of the West Nile Delta project in Egypt (OGJ Online, Apr. 18, 2017; May 11, 2017). New projects starting up through 2016-17 are expected to deliver 500,000 boe/d net in new production capacity for BP by yearend. BP expects 800,000 boe/d production from new projects by 2020.