Project Profile
Value: US$40 million
Location: Block 16/07a, Central North Sea, UK
Assets: Brae Alpha, Brae Bravo, East Brae and the Brae-Forties pipeline
Reserves: 70 million tonnes of oil liquids and a further 22 cubic kilometres of gas
Production: 16,000 boepd (2016)
First production: 1983 (Alpha), 1988 (Bravo), 1993 (East)
Start-up year: 2015
The Brae name comes from a Scots language word for hillside. Three accumulations total about 70 million tonnes of oil liquids and a further 22 cubic kilometres of gas. The main platforms currently produce from underlying reserves, with regular infill drilling to identify and exploit undrained pockets in the Brae stratigraphy. A number of subsea tieback fields in the area produce through facilities on the platforms, extending their viability into the future. Gas is exported to St Fergus, Scotland via the SAGE pipeline system and oil is exported via the Forties system.
The Brae Alpha platform will be modified to comply with OSPAR regulations, while also being prepared to see water injection upgrades, engine and control system upgrades as well as fire and gas upgrades. The Brae Alpha platform hosts production from the South Brae field, as well as the adjacent Central Brae and West Brae fields. The Brae Alpha platform also provides processing services for the Trees field.
The Brae Bravo platform hosts oil and gas from the North Brae and Beinn fields and provides processing services for the Kingfisher field.
The East Brae Bravo platform hosts oil and gas from the East Brae field and provides processing services for the Braemar and Devenick fields.
Decommissioning
In April 2016 Marathon Oil submitted plans to relevant authorities for decommissioning of its Brae field in the UK sector of the North Sea. The move comes after one of the platforms on the field, the Brae Alpha, was hit by a gas leak in December 2015, followed by production shutdown after which the operating company never reported of production restoration.
Operators:
Marathon Oil: Operator with 40% interest
TAQA Bratani: 14% interest
BP: 27.70% interest
Centrica: 8% interest
Engie: 4% interest
Nippon Oil: 6.3% interest
Contractors:
Archer: Platform drilling, maintenance and engineering services
BIS Salamis: Replacement of 2 obsolescent power generation units with new models and providing services including Scaffolding, Rigging, NDT, Insulation and Architectural Services
Bilfinger Salamis: Five-year contract to provide a range of fabric maintenance support services on all of TAQA‘s UKCS assets, including: scaffolding, insulation, coatings, passive fire protection, specialist cleaning and rope access. The contract comes with two one-year extension. (September, 2015)
Enermech: Crane operations and maintenance and lifting services
Global Energy Group: Fabrication of skids, pipework and associated E & I scopes and subsequently integrating the two General Electric generators and fitting of the associated pipework
KD Marine: Subsea work
Petrofac: Engineering and O&M contract
ASCO: Contract worth in excess of £50 million (US$78.7 M) for work in the North Sea for Marathon Oil UK. Starting in July 2015, the five-year contract with further extension options, will be serviced out of ASCO’s South Base in Peterhead and will include quayside services, warehouse management and the provision of marine gas oil in support of Brae field.
Ingen Ideas (an Amec Foster Wheeler company): Contract worth approximately US$12.1 million by Marathon Oil. The five-year multi-discipline engineering contract covers Marathon Oil’s Brae Complex in the North Sea. The contract started in October 2015 and will run for five years, with the potential for two further five-year extensions. The contract covers subsea and topsides, including onshore operations support, projects and modifications engineering, as well as technical consultancy. (December, 2015)
JDR: Contract for the design and manufacture of 11.3-km long power and static subsea umbilicals. (January, 2016)