Project Profile
Value: US$250 million
Location: From offshore and onshore entry points to Kinneil, to Forties Blend crude oil at Hound Point and then to Grangemouth, central area of the North Sea
Capacity: 750,000 barrels per day
Kinneil terminal capacity: 8000te/day of raw gas
Grangemouth Docks Refrigerated and pressurised storage capacity: 10,300 Tonnes and 9,700 Tonnes of Propane and Butane respectively
Length: 400 kilometres (in total)
Forties Pipeline System (FPS) is a 100% BP-owned integrated oil and gas liquid transportation and processing system with a nominal capacity in excess of one million barrels per day serving the central area of the North Sea. Oil and gas liquids from over 50 offshore fields and St Fergus flow through pipelines into FPS. In the early 90\'s FPS replaced the original offshore Forties pipeline. This investment funded the oversize of the pipeline from 32 inch to 36 inch, the installation of Forties Unity offshore riser platform, two additional onshore pumping stations, an additional oil stabilization and processing train at Kinneil, an additional crude storage tank at Dalmeny and an additional crude oil loading jetty at Hound Point. The FPS has a carrying capacity in excess of 750,000 barrels per day and carries around 40% of the UK’s oil production.
The FPS 36 inch diameter subsea pipeline extends from the Forties Charlie platform via the Forties Unity platform to a landfall at Cruden Bay on the North East Coast of Scotland a distance of 169 kilometres. From there, the FPS landline, again 36 inch diameter, travels 209 kilometres south to the Kinneil Terminal at the Kerse of Kinneil, Grangemouth via four pumping stations at Cruden Bay, Netherley, Brechin and Balbeggie which provide booster compression. A 12 inch diameter buried landline running 25 kilometres from the ExxonMobil SAGE and Total St Fergus gas processing facilities carrying natural gas liquids (NGL) that join the FPS landline at Cruden Bay. Crude oil stabilisation and gas processing and treatment is undertaken at the Kinneil Terminal. The Kinneil Terminal is capable of processing 1,150,000 barrels/day of unstabilised crude oil (approximately 6100 te/hr). From Kinneil, a 30 inch landline transports Forties Blend stabilised crude oil 19 kilometres east to the FPS crude oil storage installation at Dalmeny at South Queensferry. Dalmeny has storage capacity of about 3 million barrels in six floating roof tanks. Two crude oil loading jetties at Hound Point in the Firth of Forth are connected the 5 km to Dalmeny, by 48 inch and 40 inch loading pipelines. Crude is loaded at up to 16,000m3/hr at each berth.
Gas Treatment Facilities
Gas treatment facilities are comprehensive and this allows FPS to handle a range of sulphur based and other contaminants. These treatment facilities have been added to in stages in response to demand as new Customers have tied into FPS. The Kinneil terminal can process, fractionate and treat around 8,000te/day of raw gas. Gas product distribution is flexible. Dry Gas is consumed across the Grangemouth Complex as feedstock for petrochemical plants and as fuel gas. Propane and butane products are exported via pressurised storage at Grangemouth to the FPS Refrigerated LPG storage and export terminal at Grangemouth Docks. Refrigerated and pressurised storage capacity is 10,300 Tonnes and 9,700 Tonnes of Propane and Butane respectively. There are several offtakes from the export system supplying users of LPG across the Grangemouth Complex. C5+ condensate is exported via Grangemouth Docks, with offtakes supplying users across the Grangemouth Complex.
Operators:
INEOS: Operator with 100% interest
(BP agreed to sell project to INEOS for US$250m in 2017)
Contractors:
AMEC: Provide operations, maintenance and project support
Wood Group: Five-year contract worth an estimated US$750m from BP, which will be effective from January 2015, todeliver engineering, procurement and construction services
Amec Foster Wheeler: Contract by BP to provide operations, maintenance and project support for the Forties Pipeline System (which includes the Unity offshore platform and onshore pumping stations in Aberdeenshire and Perthshire) and the Central Area Transmission System terminal in Teesside, north-east England. The contract, worth over US$74 million, will run until January 2020 and will be managed from Amec Foster Wheeler’s Aberdeen offices. The contract secures 90 jobs, including two apprenticeships (currently based at the CATS terminal).
Cape plc: A two-year offshore contract in the North Sea with an estimated value of US$152.9m. Cape will supply scaffolding, industrial cleaning, insulation and fire protection facilities to BP in the North Sea. Cape will supply a range of different services to six BP assets in the North Sea, including its 100 per cent owned Forties Pipeline System. Supplying scaffolding, industrial cleaning, insulation and fire protection facilities to oil and gas operators, the contract would secure around 500 jobs for Cape.
Bilfinger: Framework agreement with BP, valued at US$153.3 million for further three years. The contract covers maintenance services at two of its largest midstream oil and gas terminals in Scotland – Forties Pipeline System (FPS), Grangemouth and Sullom Voe Terminal (SVT), Shetland. The agreement covers scaffolding, insulation, corrosion protection and fire-proofing. (December 2015)
Turner & Townsend: Contracted to deliver quantity surveying and cost management services. (November, 2016)