Project Profile
Value: US$6,027 million
Location: West of Shetland, Scotland
Start-up Year: 2015
Upstream Oil Reserves: 8 billion boe OIP
Water Depth: 140m
Daily Oil Production: 100,000 bopd
The Clair Field is located 46 miles (75 kilometres) west of Shetland, Scotland, in approximately 459 feet (140 metres) of water. The field covers five license blocks - 206/7a, 206/12, 206/13a, and 206/9. The partners in the Clair field are BP (operator) with 28.6%, ConocoPhillips with 24.0%, ChevronTexaco with 19.4%, Shell with 18.7% and Amerada Hess with 9.3%. The oil and gas field, long dogged by technical troubles, was approved for production by the UK government in 2001 - more than 24 years after it was discovered in 1977. Since its discovery, Clair is estimated to hold 5 billion barrels of oil, making it by far the biggest undeveloped resource in the UK Continental Shelf. However, exploration and development was on hold due to the cost of drilling and exploring the fractured nature of the rock Devonian sandstone that holds the oil.
BP and its partners twice rejected the plans to develop the field because of costs. Then in 1991, a new 3D seismic technology was cultivated showcasing the favourable sea floor conditions. Plus, the technology cut development costs from the traditional US$8 a barrel to just US$4. The reservoir is made up of fractured sandstones of Devonian to Carboniferous age, with current interpretations suggesting that the total volume of hydrocarbons in place is in excess of 410 million metric tons of 22°-23° API oil. The field is divided into nine fault-bounded segments, which have a common free water level and a maximum oil column of 600m. A gas cap is present in the structurally elevated ridge segments.
Phase 1 has focused on the Core, Graben and Horst reservoir areas which have estimated oil in place of approximately 1.75 billion barrels, of which 250 million barrels can be recovered. The development consists of a conventional platform with production and process topsides facilities, supported by a fixed steel jacket – the first steel-based structure in the west of Shetland area. The facilities were installed offshore during the summer of 2004. BP says the installation of the 11,700t topsides, by a single lift, was one of the heaviest offshore lifts ever carried out in the UKCS. Commissioning was completed in January 2005. Initial production through the original appraisal well was brought online in February 2005. Production built up to a plateau of 50,000bpd in 2007. In 2005, BP said it estimated there were five billion barrels of oil in the field, saying it was confident that this first stage of development would allow it to unlock more of the Clair reservoir. Oil from the field is exported to the Sullom Voe Terminal in Shetland via a 105km, 22in diameter pipeline. Produced gas is exported through a 10km, 6in diameter spur line into the Magnus enhanced oil recovery trunkline.
Noble Drilling and Wood subsidiary Mustang Engineering won the contract for Front-End Engineering Design (FEED). Ruling out a twin steel or concrete monotower design, they proposed an integrated topsides deck (including accommodation) with a separate modular drilling rig located on a single steel substructure, capable of carrying out full processing. The export concept was proposed as offshore loading or a pipeline. The jacket for Clair is located over the existing 206/8-10z well. The jacket is a four legged single steel structure with a height of approximately 165m. Both jacket and topsides are designed for fabrication, transportation and installation as single fully integrated lifts (maximum 10,500t) that require access to the heaviest lift capability vessels on the installation market. BP awarded the contract for the fabrication of the platform jacket to Aker Verdal. The contract for the construction of the platform topsides was awarded to Amec. There are additional processing facilities for offshore power generation, water injection, produced water and cuttings reinjection, surplus gas disposal (export or reinjection) and flare gas recovery. Artificial lift is provided for all producing wells with the option of Electrical Submersible Pumps (ESPs) for future wells intervention and the operations feature simultaneous drilling and coil tubing well intervention operations (SIMOPS).
The contract to build the accommodation modules was awarded to the Norwegian company, Leirvik Module Technology. The accommodation contract involved the fabrication of the living quarters and utility building, which forms part of the topsides for Clair. The contract for the drill rig fabrication contract was awarded to Heerema Hartlepool. The scope of the fabrication work incorporated fabrication of a Derrick Equipment Set, (DES) module, with substructure and skid base and a Drilling Support Module, (DSM). The work included equipment installation and extended commissioning and the modules weigh approximately 2,500t and 2,200t respectively.
Operators:
BP: Operator with 28.6% interest
Shell: 18.7% interest
ConocoPhillips: 24% interest
Chevron: 19.4% interest
Amerada Hess: 9.3% interest
Contractors:
AMEC: FEED for platforms and engineering and project management services for main platform design
Aker Solutions: EPC for jackets
Aker Subsea AS: Subsea engineering
Aker Verdal: Fabrication of the platform jacket
AMEC: Construction of the platform topsides and deliver the hook up and commissioning services
Emerson Process Management: Provide integrated power automation services
Floatel International: Accommodation and construction support vessel
Heerema Hartlepool: Drill rig fabrication
Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI): EPC for platforms deck
Leirvik Module Technology: Build the accommodation modules
Metallisation: Supplied flamespray equipment to protect the new BP Clair Ridge platforms
Mojix: Deliver track-and-trace technology
Mustang Engineering: EPC contract
Noble Drilling and Wood subsidiary Mustang Engineering: FEED contract
Omega Completion Technology: Supply Command Activated Sandface valves
RDS: FEED for drilling facilities
Subsea 7: Development of oil and gas pipelines
Odfjell Drilling Platform: Drilling Services contract
Asset Guardian Solutions Ltd. (AGSL): Contract to provide the proprietary software management platform Asset Guardian for the Clair Ridge project to protect and manage the process control software that it uses to operate the facilities
BLOBA Glasgow Aluminium Company: Contract to install an accommodation module to be used on the Clair Ridge project
Cape plc: US$15 million or £9.8million, with further future phases added over the next 18 months. The contract is in support of the hook-up and commissioning of BP\'s two new bridge-linked Clair Ridge platforms. Effective from July 2015, the contract will secure around 170 jobs for Cape employees through the provision of core services including access, insulation, coating, passive fire protection and platform services for the Clair Ridge hook-up work.
Sparrows Group: Mechanical Handling and Crane Management contract.
Sub-contractors:
Global Marine: Contract to provide personnel and equipment that will support the delivery of a submarine fibre optic link between platforms on behalf of client, Subsea 7 and end user BP. Global Marine will be providing highly skilled jointing personnel to work with Subsea 7 in delivering platform-to-platform connectivity from the existing Clair platform, 50 miles west of the Shetland Isles, in the North Sea, to the new Clair Ridge platform. The team will work aboard Subsea 7’s Seven Falcon. On the Clair Ridge project, jointing and deck personnel will provide expertise, utilising the Universal Quick Joints and jointers trained at Global Marine’s training school will conduct splicing operations.