Oil giant BP plc BP along with its co-venturers – ConocoPhillips COP, Chevron Corp CVX and Royal Dutch Shell plc RDS.A – has announced the successful installation of the new Clair Ridge platform’s quarters and utilities (QU) topside modules. This is a major development in the Clair Ridge project.
The QU platform consists of three sections – the quarters and utilities integrated deck (QUID), the power generation (GM) module and the living quarters (LQ) module. The QUID module, GM module and the LQ module have lift weights of 9,400te, 4,550te and 2,210te, respectively. A heavy lift vessel – Heerema Thialf – was used to lift these modules onto the pre-installed jackets.
More than 600 jobs, including those of six electrical apprentices, were generated by the hook up and commissioning of these modules. All recruitments were made through Amec Foster Wheeler.
The Clair Ridge project lies in Clair field, which is located 75 kilometers to the west of the Shetland Islands. The project is a multi-billion investment that is currently in the second phase of development. The project consists of two new bridge-linked platforms and new pipeline infrastructure to link storage and redelivery facilities on Shetland. The installation of the production and drilling (DP) platform topside modules will be the next important development for the project. The installation has been slated for the summer of 2016 and production is anticipated to begin in late 2017.
The Clair Ridge development will have the capacity to yield an estimated 640 million barrels of oil over a period of four decades. The project is expected to yield a maximum of about 120,000 barrels of oil per day.
Clair Ridge is the first approved large-scale offshore enhanced oil recovery (EOR) scheme that applies reduced salinity water injection to draw a higher proportion of oil over the life of the field. In order to make the project more environment-friendly the platforms will be driven by dual-fuel power generators, which use waste heat recovery technology. The project will also utilize vapor recovery to seize and reuse low pressure gas as fuel or for exporting to shore.
BP currently holds a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
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