Clair Ridge oil to double BP output in North Sea

BP Plc has seen first oil from its giant Clair Ridge development in the North Sea, helping arrest decades of decline in a region where drillers have already produced most easy-to-reach resources.

The project increases output from the broader Clair field, which started producing oil in 2005. Clair is by far the biggest oilfield in Europe, with more barrels than the second- and thirdlargest fields combined, but its geology and site beneath frigid, choppy Scottish seas have bedevilled potential drillers. To prepare for this phase, BP and its partners have worked for seven years and spent almost $6 billion (Dh22 billion).

The result is expected to be a cash-generating monster. Clair Ridge has about 640 million barrels of recoverable resources, 45 per cent of which will go to BP and the rest to venture partners including Royal Dutch Shell and Chevron Corp. The development is expected to play a major role in doubling BP’s output in the North Sea to around 200,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day by 2020.

This sort of development “does come with adversity — deeper water and more complexity relative to other rocks,” said Ariel Flores, BP’s president for the North Sea region.