£4.4bn FIELDS OF BLACK GOLD
OIL FLOWS FROM NEW NORTH SEA SITE
OIL has begun to flow from pioneering fields west of Shetland following a £4.4billion investment aimed at breathing new life into the North Sea.
The Schiehallion and Loyal fields – Quad 204 project – could produce 450million more barrels of oil over the next 20 years, operators BP say.
The fields were first tapped in the mid-90s and have produced nearly 400million barrels since production started in 1998.
BP and co-venturers Shell and Siccar Point Energy expect to ramp up production through the rest of 2017 to a daily peak of 130,000 barrels.
They hope to unlock a further estimated 450million barrels extending the life of the fields to 2035 and beyond.
The project included the construction of the world’s largest harsh water floating production, storage and offloading vessel – the Glen Lyon.
It also required a major upgrade and replacement of subsea facilities and a continuous drilling programme of up to 20 new wells to enable the full development of the reserves.
Since the Quad 204 project was approved in 2011, more than £2billion of contracts have gone to UK firms.
BP plan to double UK North Sea production to 200,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day by 2020 and sustain a material business in the region for several decades.
Production from the new