Foinaven oilfield

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Foinaven oilfield
Foinaven oilfield is located in Scotland
Foinaven oilfield
Location of Foinaven oilfield
CountryScotland, United Kingdom
RegionWest of Shetland
Blocks204/19
204/24a
Offshore/onshoreOffshore
Coordinates60°15′N 4°30′W / 60.250°N 4.500°W / 60.250; -4.500Coordinates: 60°15′N 4°30′W / 60.250°N 4.500°W / 60.250; -4.500
PartnersBP
Rock Rose Energy
Field history
DiscoveryOctober 1990
Start of development1994
Start of production1997
Production
Current production of oil12,000 barrels per day (~6.0×10^5 t/a)
Recoverable oil200 million barrels (~2.7×10^7 t)

Foinaven oil field is deepwater oil development approximately 190 kilometres (120 mi) west of the Shetland Islands. Together with Schiehallion, Loyal, Solan, Clair and Lancaster fields it forms the area generally termed as the West of Shetland.

Field description[]

Foinaven oil field was discovered in October 1990.[1] It is located at a water depth of 400–600 metres (1,300–2,000 ft),[2] and is the first development made beyond the United Kingdom Continental Shelf.[3] It is named after a mountain in the North West Highlands.[4] Recoverable oil reserves of Foinaven are estimated to be between 250 and 600 million barrels (40,000,000 and 95,000,000 m3).[3]

Production[]

The Foinaven field is operated by BP Exploration in partnership with Rock Rose Energy.[5] The development of the field was sanctioned in 1994 and the oil production in Foinaven started in November 1997. The phase 1 with 21 wells was completed in 2000. It has the designed oil production capacity of 85,000 barrels per day (13,500 m3/d) of oil.[3]

Oil is produced by subsea wells via a manifold, which passes through rigid flowlines and then flexible risers into a Floating Production Storage and Offloading system (FPSO).[3] Surface process facilities consist of two parallel oil separation and gas compression trains with a combined liquid handling capacity of 145,000 barrels per day (23,100 m3/d) of crude oil and 114 million cubic feet per day (3.2×10^6 m3/d) of associated gas.

The FPSO, Petrojarl Foinaven, which is operated by Teekay Petrojarl, has an overall length of 240 metres (790 ft) and an oil storage capacity of 300,000 barrels (48,000 m3). It is permanently stationed in the field and the crude oil is exported by shuttle tankers. Oil is exported primarily to the Flotta oil terminal in Orkney with smaller amount is going to Tranmere Oil Terminal on Merseyside.

Approximately half of the produced associated gas is used for enhanced oil recovery of the field. Another half of natural gas is exported through the West of Shetland pipeline to the Sullom Voe Terminal. Some of the exported gas is used as fuel in the Fortum operated Sullom Voe power station. The remainder is enriched with liquefied petroleum gas and exported to the Magnus platform for enhanced oil recovery in Magnus field.[6]

According to BP, to date, 390 million barrels of oil have been recovered from the Foinaven area.

Suspension of Production[]

In April 2021, BP suspended production from the Foinaven fields as the long-serving FPSO Petrojarl Foinaven through which the fields were producing oil is nearing the end of its 25-year design life, and will be removed from site.[7] The FPSO was commissioned in 1996 and has been on location in the Foinaven area since 1997.According to BP, work had been underway to consider options to extend the life of the vessel out to 2025. BP concluded that, due to its age and the demands of operating west of Shetland, even with material further investment the Petrojarl Foinaven was not the right vehicle to recover the remaining resources from the Foinaven fields. BP and field partners have begun evaluating options to develop the estimated remaining resources of up to a possible 200 million barrels from the Foinaven field and surrounding area.

References[]

  1. ^ "Foinaven Area". Wood Mackenzie. Retrieved 2012-08-28.
  2. ^ Carruth, A. G. (2003). "The Foinaven Field, Blocks 204/19 and 204/24a, UK North Sea". Memoirs. The Geological Society of London. 20 (1): 121–130. doi:10.1144/GSL.MEM.2003.020.01.10. Retrieved 2008-02-13.
  3. ^ a b c d "Foinaven BP Oil Field, Shetland Islands". Hydrocarbons Technology. Retrieved 2008-02-13.
  4. ^ "Oil and Gas field names in the North Sea" (PDF).
  5. ^ "RockRose completes acquisition of Marathon Oil's UK business". Energy Voice. Energy Voice. Retrieved 17 June 2020.
  6. ^ "Magnus EOR". Offshore Technology. Offshore Technology. Retrieved 17 June 2020.
  7. ^ "BP Suspends Output from Foinaven Fields as Long-Serving FPSO Petrojarl Foinaven Nears End of Life". Offshore Engineer Magazine. 2021-04-15. Retrieved 2021-08-03.

External links[]

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